Equities Mixed, Powell's Hawkish Comments And FX Moves The Focus

As Asian markets break for lunch, regional equities trade mixed. Japanese equities the worst performers, while Taiwan equities perform the best up about 1.5%. Local currencies have been the main focus in the region today, with the yen front and center as investors watch closely for any intervention from the BoJ, while comments from Fed Chair Jerome Powell indicated that policymakers will wait longer then expected before cutting interest rate due to a string of unexpectedly high inflation reports. Earlier New Zealand CPI was the main economics data point in the region and was in line with expectations at 4%, this is the lowest figure in almost three years, although still comfortably above the RBNZ target range of 1-3%.

• Japanese stocks initially opened slightly higher, but quickly turned negative as investors weigh the implications of Jerome Powell's remarks on the Federal Reserve's future interest rate adjustments and watch for any risk of currency intervention. The yen has remained stable at trading around 154.60 throughout the session after experiencing a sudden and brief rally overnight. While a weakening yen, currently at a three-decade low, could benefit exporters, there is mounting unease about the speed of its decline and the currency's volatility. Equities have recovered somewhat from earlier moves lower with he Topix now down 0.40% after being down as much as 1.30%, while the Nikkei fares slightly better down 0.12%.
• South Korea’s Kospi is lower today down 0.15%, local yields are higher with the KTB 10Y above 3.60% for the first time since mid-December, while the KRW is off lows now trading at 1,389.70. Foreign investors has sold 160b won of equities today, while retail investors have purchased 246b won.
• Taiwan equities are higher today largely tracking mainland China's markets higher with the Taiex now up 1.50% at 20,187 and now testing the 20-day EMA. The index is still 3.30% off recent highs after failing to break the 20,800 last week. Foreign investors have sold $1.3B of equities on Tuesday, the largest amount since Jan 17th the second highest for the past year, for a total outflow of $2.8b of outflows over the past 4 trading days.
• Australian equities are unchanged today, gains in Financials are being offset by loses in Mining and Health Care names. Earlier Westpac Leading Index fell to -0.05% in March from 0.08% in Feb. The ASX200 is off 3.60% from recent highs and hovers just above support at 7,600.
• Elsewhere in SEA, New Zealand Equities are 0.60% higher after CPI data fell to 4%, the weakest reading in almost three years. Thailand's SET Index is down 2.06% as the market returns from holidays, the Indonesian JCI is up 0.21%, Philippines PSEi is up 1%, Singapore equities are up 0.50%, while Malaysian equities are down 0.15%