Asian Headlines

With Lunar New Year celebrations in full swing turnover in the region for markets that were open were lower.  Shanghai/Shenzhen and Taiwan were shut and will be all week.  Korea too took part in the celebrations and will be shut until Thursday.  Singapore saw a half session and will reopen Thursday as well.  Lastly Hong Kong traded in the morning and will be closed until Friday.  Caixin Service PMI readings were out over the weekend, holding in at 53.6 vs the prior 53.9 result.

Japan is open all week and finished with slight gain on the day with Energy, Financials, and Health Care names strong.  Both Brent and WTI continue to work higher, appearing to want to move up from an inverse head-and-shoulders pattern.   Energy names buoyed Australia higher as well ahead of the RBA meeting later today.   Materials fell on the session with concrete firm Boral off 8% on a profit warning.  Today’s Building Approval number Down Under that showed a 23% YoY drop was no help either.

Honda fell 3.5% after Friday highlighting a weak 3Q op income reading followed by by a disappointing FY result as well.  Currency moves were cited coupled with slowing sales in the US and elsewhere.

Sony fell 8%, also on response to a Friday earnings report where they lowered their sales outlook for the full year.  The firm though upped its FY NI view to ¥835B from ¥705B citing a drop in corporate taxes.  Strength of sales of PS4 gaming systems has eased worrying analysts as they await the next-generation console.

In India, Reliance Communication closed down 35% after the firm was unable to offload assets to repay over $6B in debt and subsequently declared bankruptcy.

European Headlines

After a flattish start to the session indices are nearly day’s lows with losses slight.  Energy names lead in Europe as well with Telcos and Basic Resources giving ground.  Little in the way of economic news with a group in the UK parliament crafting new plans that the EU is pre-emptively saying no to. The BoE is expected to meet later in the week with Service PMI readings in the region to ramp up.

Wirecard +18% is in focus with the company rebounding somewhat from Friday’s drubbing.  Last week the FT ran two stories highlighting fraud allegations in Singapore by senior executive.  Both the firm and a law firm have investigated with the company calling the stories false.  Their CEO told Handelsblatt their is no risk and that 2019 will be strong.

Julius Baer -5% saw assets under management fall with FY adjusted net income missed estimates.   Amid slowing growth the firm will pare 140 positions noting lower stock markets cut 22B Francs in value from holdings.  The firm did take in 22B over the year.

Shipper Panalpina -7% is off with their biggest shareholder rejecting the bid from DSV -2.3%.