Generally Lower In Asia

Monday’s defensive tone spilled over into Asia-Pac hours, with the latest localised COVID-related lockdown in a Chinese city & the detection of a handful of cases outside of quarantine in Shanghai applying further pressure to wider sentiment.

• Headline flow was limited, with cross-market related moves front and centre. The weaker start for the likes of the Nikkei 225 and the KOSPI dragged e-minis through Monday’s lows, with the weakness in e-minis then extending further as Chinese equities moved lower.
• In terms of outright performance, the Nikkei 225 is 1.5% lower on the day at typing, with the CSI 300 printing 1.0% worse off. E-mini futures are 0.5 to 0.7% below settlement levels, with the NASDAQ 100 contract leading the weakness.
• The ASX 200 bucked the broader trend, sitting 0.3% higher on the day ahead of the close, benefitting from buoyant consumer staples and healthcare sectors, which outweighed the downtick in the heavyweight materials sector.