Asian Equities Mixed As Japanese Equities Head Lower Ahead Of US CPI

Regional Asian equities are mixed on Wednesday, US equity futures are unchanged as we await inflation data due out later today. In local markets the MSCI APAC Index is on track for the third day of gains as HK equities offset losses in Japanese equities. Apart from The RBNZ decision, where they kept rates on hold, the calendar has been very quiet. Markets are closed in South Korea, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines.

• Japan equities opened lower on Wednesday with investors expected to take a wait-and-see stance ahead of the release of US inflation data. BoJ Governor Kazuo Ueda made comments Tuesday that suggested he is keeping his options open for a further paring back of monetary easing, he also spoke earlier this morning where he mentioned the BoJ owns about 7% of the entire Japanese stock market and that deciding the fate of ETF holdings will be a difficult task while also noting a potential increase in bond buying if yields rise sharply and is cautious about directly responding to FX movements but suggests a potential policy shift if FX movements risk pushing inflation above expectations. While Microsoft will invest $2.9 billion over the next two years to boost its hyperscale cloud computing and artificial intelligence infrastructure in Japan, marking its biggest investment in the country. The Nikkei 225 index dropped 0.38% to 39,924 while the broader Topix Index slipped 0.27%, to 2,747.
• Taiwanese equities saw a $500m inflow from foreign investors on Tuesday, while equities surged. Equities are unchanged on Wednesday, as investors await US inflation data later today, while late on Tuesday CPI released which missed estimates, the March print came in at 2.14% vs 2.50% show a decent drop from the Feb where CPI was 3.08%.
• Australian equities have opened higher with the ASX 200 up 0.27% marking the third day of gains. Miners, Health care and Real Estate names are the top performing sectors with Financials and Tech stocks the worst sectors.
• Elsewhere in SEA, New Zealand equities are up 0.15% with little reaction to the RBNZ decision to keep rates on hold. Thailand equities are up 0.44%, Indian equities are up 0.25%