Regional Asian Equities Mixed, Japan higher While SK & Aus Lower

Asian equity markets are mixed today, with Japan higher after a down day on Wednesday, while South Korea and Australia markets edge lower and US equities futures are little changed. It's another quiet day in the region for economic data, Japan had cash earnings and BoJ summary of Opinions earlier, with Tokyo Avg Office vacancies later today, while Philippines has 1Q GDP and Malaysia has the central bank rate decision.

• Japanese equities have opened higher today, earlier labor cash earnings YoY missed estimates coming in at 0.6% vs 1.4% and down from 1.8% in Feb, while BoJ summaries of opinion, some notable headlines were one member stating that the rate path could be higher than expected while another stated discussions on rate hike timing should also deepen The JPY continues to be a focus with the USDJPY now trading at 155.50, vs 151.80 post what is speculated to be intervention last week, while government officials continued to issue warnings to the markets this morning. The Nikkei is 0.27% higher, while the Topix performers slightly better up 0.50%
• South Korean equities are lower this morning, earlier we had BoP Current Account Balance which increased from the prior month to $6931.4m, from $6858.3m. The Kospi remains one of the top performing markets in the region and now eyes a test of recent highs, although is down 0.20% today.
• Taiwan equities are slightly higher today, late Wednesday we had trade balance data out which showed the exports to the US surge and shipments to China falling, while the trade surplus narrowed to $6.46b from $8.67b in March. The Taiex is nearing a retest of the recent all-time highs, and is currently up 0.10%.
• Australian equities are lower today as Banks and health stocks drag on the benchmark. Energy shares advanced as oil ticked higher. There is very little on the local calendar until Monday when we have NAB business surveys. The ASX200 is down 0.77%.
• Elsewhere in SEA, New Zealand equities are down 0.34%, Singapore equities down 0.60%, Philippines equities up 0.70% after 1Q GDP came in at 5.7% just below consensus of 5.9%, while Malaysian equities trade 0.15% higher ahead of the central bank decision later today.