Stock prices rose in the Asia-Pacific region, and the Bank of Japan made no change in the yield range

Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said at a press conference on Wednesday afternoon that there is no further need to expand yield curve control, according to the Reuters translation.

“We don’t need to widen the range further around our yield target,” Kuroda was quoted as saying.

“It hasn’t been that long since we decided on our measures in December. It will likely take some time for the measures to start having an effect on reforming the market function,” he said.

The Bank of Japan kept interest rates at -0.1% and pessimistic You haven’t made any changes to the yield curve control range.

– Jihe Lee

Morgan Stanley estimates that the Chinese stock market will emerge as the best performer in 2023.

The MSCI China Index will reach 80, and the Hang Seng Index will rise to 24,500 by the end of the year, said Laura Wang, chief China equity strategist at Morgan Stanley. This would represent an upside of about 15% from where the market is trading now.

“This actually means that the Chinese stock market will outperform the global stock market in 2023, so it’s time to go back to China,” she noted.

Wang’s recommendation is to buy stocks of large-cap and highly liquid Internet companies.

She said the internet sector has a “very high correlation with the overall momentum of consumption recovery in China,” particularly in the country’s post-Covid recovery journey.

Wang added that many global institutional investors are still very short of these liquid, large-cap names.

– Lee Ying Chan

Semiconductor stocks are looking higher after 2022 or so — and fund manager Trent Masters says a couple of stocks are well positioned to ride out the volatility.

Professional subscribers can Read more here.

– Xavier Ong

Oil prices are being supported as China reopens to optimism and fuel demand, with OPEC anticipating that Chinese oil demand is on track to rebound.

Brent Crude futures rose 0.85% to $86.65 a barrel, while US contracts rose. Midwest Texas Futures rose 0.91% to $80.91 a barrel.

“Chinese oil demand is on the way to recovery due to the recent easing of measures to prevent the spread of the Corona virus in the country,” Monthly oil report advertiser.

She added that China’s oil demand in the first quarter of the year will recover from an annual decline of 0.3 million barrels per day on an annual basis in the fourth quarter of 2022 to 0.2 million barrels per day, an annual growth.

– Lee Ying Chan

the The weakness of the Japanese yen against the dollar After the Bank of Japan surprised the markets by keeping the yield curve’s tolerance range unchanged.

the Japanese Yen It weakened by 2.04% against the US dollar after the announcement and last settled at 130.94.

“The Japanese economy is expected to continue to grow at a rate higher than the potential growth rate,” the central bank said in a statement.

The Bank of Japan also left the interest rate unchanged at a very pessimistic -0.1% – in line with expectations and maintaining the same rate it has held since 2016.

—Jihee Lee, Lee Yingchan

Hong Kong-listed gaming stocks rose after China Granting licensing approvals for 88 gamesamong them NetEase, Tencent Holdings and miHoYo, marking a further easing of Beijing’s gaming campaign.

shares netease It jumped to 6.81% in early trading, hitting its highest level in more than four months. Tencent Shares rose 0.11%.

Lee Ying Shan

Tan Teck Ling, executive director of global wealth management at UBS, said the Bank of Japan is likely to extend the 10-year Treasury yield curve control band by another 50 basis points to a 1% range below and above its 0% target.

“The scenario of complete abandonment of the YCC is unlikely,” he said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia,” adding that the move would be “uncharacteristic” for a central bank.

“I think the easiest thing for them to do is take the cap off, and let it find a fair value – but again it comes down to a very big skepticism, which is why we think that, as a compromise, they should at least bring it up to the 1.0% cap.”

return on 10-Japanese government bonds It crossed the upper end of its range for the fifth consecutive session on Wednesday morning ahead of the Bank of Japan’s monetary policy announcement.

Japan’s November private manufacturing orders fell 8.3% from the previous month, According to official data.

The decline was much larger than Reuters’ forecast of a 0.9% decline. On a yearly basis, manufacturing orders fell 3.7%.

Machine numbers in the private sector exclude orders from the volatile orders of ships and electric power companies.

– Lee Ying Chan

With electric vehicles becoming more and more popular, new manufacturing technology that could make them more affordable is getting a lot of attention, according to Morgan Stanley.

The Wall Street bank said some automakers are outsourcing the process, which could benefit three major Asian parts suppliers.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

– Ganesh Rao

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell to end the day, as Goldman Sachs shares weighed on the stock index.

The Dow Jones lost 391.76 points, or 1.14%, to close at 33,910.85 points. The S&P 500 fell 0.2%, to 3,990.97. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.14% to end the day at 11,095.11.

– Tanaya McHale

The recession probably won’t start now until later in 2023 as consumer spending has been stronger than expected and the Federal Reserve has eased as it ramps up interest rate hikes, according to Bank of America.

“We are delaying the timing of our forecast for a moderate recession in the US economy by about a quarter given the resilience of consumer spending at the expense of strong labor markets, excess saving, lower energy prices, and easier financial conditions,” the company said in a statement. Customer note. “However, we believe that the headwinds will push consumers to spend less and drive the saving rate higher as the year progresses.”

That puts a recession in the second quarter, driven by an investment-led slowdown seeping into consumer spending.

After raising the benchmark borrowing rate by 4.25 percentage points in 2022, the Fed is expected to ease, with an increase of 0.25 percentage points in February. This is expected to be followed by an additional quarter-point increase in March and May.

The company said interest rate cuts likely won’t come until 2024.

– Jeff Cox

Goldman Sachs shares fell 2.4% after Wall Street The investment bank shared fourth-quarter earnings results that it missed Analyst forecasts on both profits and losses.

The bank reported earnings of $3.32 per share on $10.59 billion in revenue. Consensus estimates called for earnings of $5.48 per share on revenue of $10.83 billion, according to analysts surveyed by Refinitiv.

Provisions for credit losses also came in slightly above expectations.

– Heo Soon, Samantha Sobin