Most Asia Benchmarks Lower Despite Easing In Russia-Ukraine Tensions

Most of the major Asia-Pac equity index benchmarks look set to close lower, despite bouncing from worst levels following news that U.S. President Biden and Russian President Putin have agreed to meet in-principle re: Ukraine. This came after most Asia-Pac equity indices opened sharply lower on a negative lead from Wall St.

• The CSI300 trades 0.5% lower, led by broad losses in infrastructure, materials, and new energy stocks. The PBoC kept benchmark lending rates for corporate and household loans unchanged, providing no surprises to market participants.
• The Hang Seng is 0.6% worse off, led by a 1.6% decline in the Hang Seng Tech Index. To elaborate, high-beta Chinese-linked tech struggled amidst renewed regulatory worry arising from the Chinese authorities ordering food delivery platforms to lower fees last Friday. The Hang Seng Properties Index fell by 1.1% as well, following a worsening in Hong Kong’s COVID-19 situation that has seen property developers engaged in pandemic measures such as the provision of rooms for quarantine purposes. Meanwhile, worry surrounding Chinese property developer debt has re-emerged, seeing China-based (but Hong Kong-listed) developers such as Sunac China Holdings and Zhenro Properties Group bearing the brunt of losses (note that the latter has flagged a potential problem when it comes to meeting debt repayment obligations due in March).
• The Australian ASX200 was the only major regional equity index to trade higher, adding 0.2%.
• E-minis surged on news of the aforementioned Biden-Putin summit agreement in-principle, and now deal 0.5-0.6% higher ahead of European hours.