China Property Stocks Recover, Mixed Trends Elsewhere

Regional equities have enjoyed a better afternoon session relative to earlier in the session. Onshore China shares have recovered from earlier weakness, but trends are mixed elsewhere throughout the region. US futures have stayed in positive territory for most of the session, last around 0.10-0.20% firmer for the main indices.

• The CSI 300 is up 0.77% at this stage, likewise for the Shanghai Composite index. Early concerns around Covid trends dominated, with officials calling for the greater efforts to curb the virus spread in major cities.
• Support has come from the property sub-sector though, with the Shanghai sub-index up 1.80%. Late yesterday the China regulators stated that banks should step up lending support for property developers/construction companies.
• Japan stocks have outperformed for much of the session, the Topix +1.2%, as exporter related names have outperformed. The yen was the worst performer in the G10 FX space yesterday (-1.2%), and it has only retraced some losses today (+0.30%).
• The Kospi is off by 0.34%, but the Taiex is outperforming (+0.55%). The ASX 200 is up close to 0.70%, as resource companies led the move higher. Higher coal prices are helping, while iron ore is down slightly from recent highs.
• The Philippines bourse is up a further 0.90%. The country's finance minister stated the Philippines' may hit the top end of this year's GDP target (6.5-7.5%).