The major regional equity markets trade......>

STOCKS: The major regional equity markets trade mixed in the first Asia-Pac

session of the week, with focus on the Coronavirus in the background. Increased

hope of fiscal stimulus in China, coupled with relaxed financing terms for

companies directly hindered by Coronavirus supported mainland China equity

markets during the session, leading to some outperformance. The PBoC's 10bp cut

to the rate applied to its 1-Year MLF facility was welcomed, although the amount

offered was perhaps a little shy of expectations (the MLF and daily OMO ops

accounted for a cumulative net drain of CNY700bn on Monday, but the PBoC's

easing bias remains well and truly intact). The Nikkei 225 struggled on the back

of weak Japanese GDP data, stemming from the well documented sales tax hike.

- NASDAQ 100 & S&P e-minis registered fresh all time highs, with some regional

spill over from Friday's CNBC source report which suggested that "the White

House is considering ways to incentivize U.S. households to invest in the stock

market, according to four senior administration officials."

- Nikkei 225 -0.8%, Hang Seng +0.5%, CSI 300 +1.2%, ASX 200 -0.2%.

- S&P 500 futures +7, DJIA futures +48, NASDAQ 100 futures +40.