Nikkei 225 Outperforms In Asia

Asia-Pac trade saw e-minis move away from best levels as BBG headlines pointed to a lack of coupon payment on a US$-denominated bond issued by China Evergrande, but the contracts have recovered from worst levels of the day to trade little changed. A reminder that the coupon payment was due yesterday, but there is a 30-day grace period before a default is triggered. There are also reports/chatter of the company's electric vehicle arm failing to pay salaries to some of its employees, in addition to a failure when it came to the timely payment covering factory equipment. There is an air of confusion re: the ultimate end game when it comes to Evergrande, although worries about contagion have receded.

• The Nikkei 225 managed to benefit from the uptick in USD/JPY evident over the last 24 hours, while playing catch up to 2 days of gains on Wall St after Thursday's Tokyo holiday.
• Elsewhere, performance was a little more mixed, with the remaining major regional indices lacking any sustained deviation from unchanged levels.