Higher In Asia; Walmart Earnings Lifts Retailers

Major Asia-Pac equity indices are higher at typing, bucking a mixed lead from Wall St. Retail-related equities across the region were bid after Walmart’s better-than-feared earnings beat on Tuesday, while Chinese developers are on track to close higher for a second day.

• To elaborate, sentiment in China-based developers continues to improve amidst recent reports of increased house purchasing inquiries in cities with lower mortgage down payment ratios, with the Hang Seng Mainland Properties Index (+1.0%) on track to notch a second day of gains, extending a rise off of recently made record lows.
• The Hang Seng is 0.8% firmer at writing, seeing the finance (+0.6%) and property (+0.4%) sub-indices lead the way higher. China-based tech rose modestly (HSTECH: +1.0%) alongside a strong rally in Meituan (+4.7%), although the performance in the latter comes after a 9.1% decline on Tuesday.
• The CSI300 is 0.7% better off after reversing earlier losses, on track for its highest daily close in over two weeks. Real estate names outperformed (CI300 Real Estate Index: +2.9%), augmenting relatively shallow gains observed across much of the CSI300.
• The ASX200 is off its extremes, trading 0.3% higher at writing. Losses in healthcare and tech were countered by gains in the consumer staples sub-gauge (+1.6%), with retailers such as Woolworths (+1.4%) outperforming.
• E-minis operate on either side of neutral levels at typing after a fairly limited Asia-Pac session so far, sitting just off fresh multi-month highs made on Tuesday.