ASIA:

China and Russia have blocked the UN from condemning the ongoing military coup in Myanmar. The UN statement sought to “condemn the military coup” and call on the military to “immediately release those unlawfully detained,” according to a draft seen by Politico.

Wider fiscal deficits and a more gradual pace of consolidation will lift the Indian government’s debt and pressure its sovereign ratings, Fitch Ratings said, cautioning that the fiscal firepower is limited due to a high debt ratio. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the current year fiscal deficit will touch 9.5% of GDP, much higher than the budgeted 3.5% and sharply above analyst estimates of around 7%. The government has also projected a deficit of 6.5% for the next fiscal year starting April and said it would reach 4.5% only by fiscal 2025/26.

The major Asian stock markets had a mixed day today:

• NIKKEI 225 increased 284.33 points or 1.00% to 28,646.50
• Shanghai decreased 16.38 points or -0.46% to 3,517.31
• Hang Seng increased 58.76 points or 0.20% to 29,307.46
• ASX 200 increased 62.00 points or 0.92% to 6,824.60
• Kospi increased 32.87 points or 1.06% to 3,129.68
• SENSEX increased 458.03 points or 0.92% to 50,255.75
• Nifty50 increased 142.10 points or 0.97% to 14,789.95

The major Asian currency markets had a mixed day today:

• AUDUSD increased 0.00109 or 0.14% to 0.76230
• NZDUSD increased 0.00017 or 0.02% to 0.72059
• USDJPY decreased 0.01 or -0.01% to 105.03
• USDCNY increased 0.00065 or 0.01% to 6.45839

Precious Metals:

• Gold decreased 3.51 USD/t oz. or -0.19% to 1,833.84
• Silver increased 0.239 USD/t. oz or 0.90% to 26.851

Some economic news from last night:

China:

Caixin Services PMI (Jan) decreased from 56.3 to 52.0

Japan：

Services PMI (Jan) decreased from 47.7 to 46.1

Hong Kong:

Manufacturing PMI (Jan) increased from 43.5 to 47.8

Australia:

Building Approvals (MoM) (Dec) increased from 3.3% to 10.9%