China/HK Outperform, Indian Markets Weaker

The main positives today have been in terms of China and Hong Kong shares, while the trend has been less positive elsewhere, mostly notably Indian stocks, which have been weighed down by the IT sector. US and EU futures are modestly higher, but for Eminis we are slightly down on best levels for the session, last near 4170.

• The HSI is up 0.54% at the break, with the underlying tech index up by a similar amount. The CSI 300 is faring better, up 0.86%, the Shanghai Composite near 1% firmer.
• The 1yr MLF rate was held steady, as expected, at 2.75%, while there was a modest liquidity injection via the 1yr MLF. Tomorrow we also get Q1 GDP and March monthly activity figures, which are expected to show uniform improvement.
• Indian markets are noticeably weaker in the first part of trade, with the Nifty and Sensex benchmarks off by more than 1%. Tech company Infosys has slumped on weak earnings guidance and analyst downgrades. This has weighed on broader tech equity related sentiment.
• The Kospi and Taiex are both down modestly, while offshore investors have sold -$220.4mn of local Korean shares.
• In SEA, Malaysian, Indonesian and Philippine stock indices are lower, with only Thai stocks managing to gravitate higher.