major market opens. setting up for an absolutely lackluster session today if you look at the queues we have for mustard overnight. , rally continue from here? haidi: not just the fed, we heard from neel kashkari speaking to bloomberg earlier saying they are not going to back down from higher-for-longer until they are confident inflation has returned to desired levels. but also, australia going into the open, we had our rba signaling it will be a higher-for-longer rate environment in this economy you will. annabelle: that's right and one of the stories we are tracking is that rents could be the next thing to fall in this inflation battle. at the start of the day, it is that focus on what is happening with the japanese yen, heading closer to the 155 mark. we had governor ueda meeting the

japanese prime minister for the first time in seven weeks, it's actually an unusually short periods between talks for the two. tells us perhaps it's a bit of a shifting approach for the boj in terms of the yen direction and we could perhaps get the boj joining government officials in verbal intervention. this we know they are closely attuned to the economic impacts. automaker stoxx, for instance,, traditionally a key beneficiary of the weaker yen are now starting to see the negatives. today we have the nikkei coming on a bit under pressure. quite a range-bound day on wall street. so perhaps we are unlikely to see any major moves, especially ahead of key earnings from the likes of toyota. let's switch to korea now. at the start of the day here, that outlook for korea is under pressure. but look at that big trading debut at the bottom, that is hd hyundai marine solution.

it's and ship repair company. it just started trading this morning in seoul after raising 500 -- $550 million in its ipo, the biggest in asia since january of 2022. it cements south korea's position as one of the key markets for companies fundraising through equity sales this year. a small amount of shares being traded today, around 10%. many funds will be restricted from selling because of lockout periods. that pop is significant. although 40% is impressive. haidi: look at what we are tracking in the last couple of minutes of the staggered open here in sydney. looking flat at the moment. across the region, we are looking for reaction to the tech names when it comes to the apple announcement overnight. here in australia we are, still percolating through the mixed

messaging from the rba. the take away is that rates will stay where they are. potentially flagging the possibility of a hike is inflation and these data sets don't come into view for what is manageable for the rba. it is taking some of the wind out of the sales of this equity rally. looking at treasury futures and australian bombs, the supply is the main focus when it comes to american markets as well as australian debt markets. a good result for the three year note in the u.s. government debt in the u.s. propelled higher. we are seeing that follow-through in asia as well. the aussie dollar is holding steady at 65.8 six cents. we had a big move in the u.s. dollar in the upside so some weakness is expected across asia and fx. . today brent crude is holding above the $83 level. geopolitical issues continue to weigh on it.

trackers are following the tensions across the middle east, the lack of the cease-fire deal over gaza, and a mildly bearish u.s. stockpiles report as well. wti is tracking close to $78 a barrel. and treasuries, this is the picture for u.s. treasuries after the three-year auction. we heard more commentary from the fed as well, neel kashkari of minneapolis saying, policy tightness in being questioned as inflation continues to stall. the take away from the conversation is really he thinks it is likely the fed will keep rates where they are for an extended periods of time. annabelle: let's get more on the market open. japan is just coming online. set for a bit of lackluster trading. but our next guest says valuation still looks attractive versus other developed markets. ken wong is asian equity portfolio specialist at eastspring investments.

let's kick off with japan. it's a broader question facing investors, the rally we are seeing so far, are there enough catalysts for it to extend? are we looking stretched, or do you think there is further from here for the upside? ken: you have to look at the specific segments. large caps have run up quite a bit. you look at the middle and small caps and the japanese market, they are attractive. 40% in the middle and small caps space are still trading below book. the past couple of years we have seen a solid rally but we think this year it will be important for stock selections. you have to be more careful when it comes to not trying to chase may be the flavor of the month or the previous winners but really, focusing on momentum stocks. because valuations on those stocks have gone up a bit but there are still a number of sectors that are attractive in japan. annabelle: we were just thinking about the japanese equity reporter, talking about the impact of the weaker yen.

it has traditionally held to the exporters in particular. do you think it is starting to have a negative bearing? ken: some of the exporters will have a bit of an impact, but when you look at japanese markets as a whole, our cap first assumption is 2.5%. we have a big buffer in the margin of safety already given where interest rate levels are now. when we look at a specifically's companies, we look at a lot of the, i would say the unloved companies, companies who have a contrarian point of view. we still see a lot of opportunities there. over the past six months, there has been a lot of push towards momentum, around growth stocks. everyone assumes that with strong growth and everything,

reviving capex reviving, that growth stocks will do very well. which they have. at the same time, because of that you might want to start looking at the value stocks which are definitely becoming much more attractive again. haidi: speaking of rotation into more attractive perhaps geographies, i wanted to ask you about china. look at this chart when it comes to asia and hung -- when it comes to shanghai. shanghai is seeing fresh tactical signals that perhaps is the true revival. shanghai composite, 16% gain from average. 50-day moving average now above the 200-day moving average. is the first bullish crossing since last year. is it a fundamental rewriting, or is that still in question depending on further policy execution and signs of a recovery? ken: that is a great question. fact is, when you look at where we are today compared to a year ago, the fact is that we are still lit roughly at 10% to 15% below the level of the war a year ago. we had a very solid first-quarter gdp number and it had a bit of a surprise, i would

say, to some of the market participants. but when you look at valuations from, say, the csi 300 perspective, it is still below its 10 year historical average. from a valuation perspective, it is more enticing. and while we have had a strong rally especially here in hong kong with a lot of the h-shares, red chips and some of the p- chips, a lot of the asian stocks haven't seen the strong early we have seen here in hong kong. so we believe on the onshore platform that there will be quite a bit of opportunities right now for investors, especially given where valuations are, and given such a low starting point compared to where levels were last year. haidi: is it going to get hotter for hong kong now, 120% bull run in the past three months, seems to be the set up for multiple headwinds from here. ken: i think that first wave that we saw was short covering. now we are definitely seeing a bit more interest from institutional investors wanting

to hear more about what is happening in this part of the world again, wanting to see specifically whether or not from an economic and policy perspective that things can be accommodated in order to support the markets in the second half of the year. also at the same time, because of where valuations are, there is actually a bit more certainty in terms of investing in this part of the region and that is where you are getting more interest in terms of investor sentiment here in hong kong and eventually we feel, as well, in the china market. annabelle: the international fund investors you are speaking to, which areas are they most excited about at this point in time? ken: at the moment, they want to hear the whole macro story specifically whether or not growth is sustainable. we hear about 5% gdp growth for this year, whether or not that will be achievable. and if so, how? they want to know specifically from that standpoint.

whether or not we will see further cycles improving and increasing in china, that will also be important. and from an economic perspective, how things will involve during the second half of the year. right now it is more of a feel from the international investor base. as time progresses, we might see a bit more interest in terms of specific sector rotations and stock selections. annabelle: there is always an opportunity cost, but how much does india risk possible inflows into china? ken: we are in election month right now, a lot of in investors -- investors in the past 12 to 18 months, there has been a strong focus on india. so there could be a slight pullback. but that said, from a medium to longer term perspective, there is still a lot to like in india. while valuations are a bit high at the moment, when you look at the longer-term perspective in

terms of economic growth and, more importantly, earnings growth and the increase in cycles, as well there is a lot of opportunity to invest in india in the medium term and longer term. annabelle: ken wong is asian equity portfolio specialist at eastspring investments. thank you for coming on this morning. a few minutes into the session so far in trading in tokyo and sydney but one stock is standing out, a ship repair company hd hyundai marine solution making its trading debut this morning's urging more than 40% after it raised $550 million in its ipo it was. priced at the top of the range. also strong demand for it. the stock is, only about 10% of its shares that will be traded on the first day of trading, for these gains were sort of predicted by the analysts that we spoke to including ds investment and securities. they say that many funds will be restricted from selling by

lockup periods, but this is certainly a debut that is cementing south korea as one of the key fundraising venues in asia over the course of 2025. we a head. this is bloomberg. ♪ -- we will. this is bloomberg. ♪

annabelle: tiktoks owner has launched a formal legal challenge to the law forcing it to divest or face a ban. that has set up a what could be a prolonged battle pitting free-speech rates against national security interests. for more let's bring in chief north asia correspondent stephen engle the company had said it would to make this move. what are the details of the challenge?

stephen: i will take a step back and say what the ban is going to entail. they have until january 17 of next year to essentially, from bytedance, to divest its chinese ownership and potentially sell the app to another company in the united states. they said they have spent $2 billion to make sure that it will isolate its u.s. customers from any concerns of national security grounds also kind of the -- also agreed to oversight from software company oracle. that didn't matter because biden signed: bipartisan law last month. so they have until, as i said, january 17. now in the filing of the lawsuit by tiktok saying, listen, we will not necessarily comply with this. they might seek an injunction closer to that date but now are they are still operating in the united states and at the same

framework they have all along but now what will happen with potential buyers that we heard steven mnuchin, former treasury secretary of the united states looking at if they can join the board by them, if they will not be selling,, they may look at the algorithm and come up with a different typ. -- excuse me, he is more for regulation against a ban. there are so many moving parts. now that this will be a long, drawn court battle potentially that could end up in the supreme court it just prolongs this whole saga and tiktok fighting for its survival in the u.s. market where they say they supply this platform to many small and medium-sized companies and individuals who make a living off of tiktok. haidi: haidi: it's not the only saga, right, in the space. we have heard more action taken

against huawei in the united states. stephen: that's right. they are according to sources, expanding export restrictions against huawei. according to sources at the u.s. government, it has reversed licenses allowing huawei to purchase semiconductors from qualcomm and intel basically affecting u.s. sales of chips used in huawei phones and laptops. the commerce department confirmed the withdrawal of certain licenses for export to huawei but declined to offer specifics. we have heard from the likes of the house foreign affairs committee chairman michael mccaul republican from texas, who says this will block any chips sold to huawei. saying that intel and, our two companies they are worried about being a little too close to china. for qualcomm's's sake, they say their business with huawei is already pretty limited and will surely shrink down to nothing over time.

it has been allowed to sell older 4g network trips to huawei, but again, not 5g and advanced chips. huawei doesn't rank in the list of top 10 customers for qualcomm or intel according to bloomberg's supply chain analysis. u.s. is also said to be considering sanctions against six chinese firms they suspect could be supplying chips to huawei. u.s. also of course, we have been reporting that they have been pressing allies like japan, like south korea, netherlands, germany, also amped up pressure and not sell to companies like huawei. , chief north asia correspondent stephen engle there in hong kong . the former u.s. treasury secretary steven mnuchin says he is still interested in buying tiktoks u.s. operations from

bytedance. he spoke to us at the milken institute global conference in beverly hills it's all very interested in buying it to the extent they want to sell it or spin it off we very much want to pursue that. i support that congress passed the bill and has signed into law. it says had incredible overwhelming support with republicans and democrats, this may be the only thing that everybody agrees on. the fact that it is 160 million phones i think is a security issue does the deal still work in the algorithm doesn't come with stake? >> the chinese government has been very clear that they will not give an export license on the algorithm. i understand that. we have sensitive technology that we don't want to transfer and they don't want to transfer this stadia u.s. i have spoken to a lot of u.s. tech companies on rebuilding this i believe the algorithms can be rebuilt. so my plan if we were to purchase it would be to rebuild the technology under u.s. leadership, make sure that it is all disconnected from bytedance going forward, and that it is

very robust and secure. annabelle: that was the former u.s. treasury secretary steven mnuchin speaking to "wall street week" anchor david westin. sticking with the theme of china and tensions, chinese president xi jinping has arrived in serbia on the second leg of the european tour, looking to bolster ties with that country that is embracing chinese investment. for more, let's bring in economy correspondent rebecca choong wilkins. looking to bolster ties. i believe both sides are expected to sign at least 30 agreements here. really bolstering it. rebecca: quite a few in the offing. it's a fascinating portion of the trip to me, serbia and hungary, these are two countries that are just open to china but geopolitically, much closer to

china, two rare offerings in europe. they have a much closer relationship to russia they are trying to read this relationship between russia and the west -- fred the relationship -- they are trying to tread this relationship between russia and the west. they are buyers of the idea that russia and china promote of the multipolar world order. so this is not just about economic benefits that showcase the benefits to the rest of europe of engaging with china. these are two pri nations, for example,. this is signaling that reaffirmation of closer ties to putin. we are expecting putin to visit to china in the days after xi jinping returns. haidi: we spoke about how that has been these goodwill, carefully selected visits, meetings, and maybe some of the tougher conversations have been around the periphery. that a with the european commission was all frank about

what you're up one from china and what could potentially happen if confessions are not made. rebecca: yes. this is the sort of major sticking point and the whole discussion here is around this issue of overcapacity. it is a major obstacle for beijing because any more trade fiction tariffs and so on good pose a major obstacle to china's so-called new three drivers of growth -- looking at batteries, solar and evs. the issue there is that we have seen the european union increasingly move closer to the u.s.'s position, lockstep, when it comes to introducing this litany of probes. but it does seem like despite those frank conversations in some ways, that may be a marker of forthright and deeper discussions that can happen. compare, for example, discussions between russia and

the u.s. versus china in the e.u., it's more forthright, more concrete, more deep discussion and debate. china very firmly saying there is no problem with overcapacity when it comes to key industrial sectors. that we will perhaps see more of this effort to move, for example, some of the chinese ev makers and so on into onshoring europe, i.e., opening a factory or using currently unused factories to sell operations, create local jobs, help local economies and boost local economies for certain member nations. we have seen that happen selectively in maine, hungary. so that may be one way -- happen selectively in spain and hungary. that may be one way china may reinforce the economic benefits of keeping the channels open. haidi: our asian government and economy correspondent rebecca choong wilkins there.

you can get a roundup of the stories you need to get going on today's edition of "daybreak." you can join in on the conversation as well by sending us instant messages during our shows. this is bloomberg. ♪

>> i think about likely scenario is where we are now which is we stay put of the periods of time until we get clarity on is disinflation, in fact, continuing or has it stalled out? i would say they're most likely scenario is we sit here for an

extended periods of time. annabelle: that was minneapolis fed president neel kashkari at the milken institute global conference in beverly hills. one of the reason there is strength in the greenback being attributed to those comments. treasuries paring the losses. questioning whether monetary policy is restrictive enough. it certainly did not close the door to the risk of another rate hike. setting the place for asian effect so far, a little bit subdued. we are watching the japanese yen. we had a meeting between governor of the boj governor ueda, and the japanese prime minister talking about fx moves. perhaps a signal that the boj will follow suit with japanese government official starting to jawbone and talk up perhaps the risk that there needs to be some sort of possible intervention.

there are two episodes not confirmed as yet. governor ueda saying monetary policy is not supposed to be a tool to control ethics. that is the state of play. we have equity markets just half an hour into the trading session this morning. the outlook today is

her uncle's unhappy. i'm sensing an underl issue. it's t-mobile. it started when we tried to get him under a new plan. but they they unexpectedly unraveled their “price lock” guarantee. which has made him, a bit... unruly. you called yourself the “un-carrier”. you sing about “price lock” on those commercials. “the price lock, the price lock...” so, if you could change the price, change the name! it's not a lock, i know a lock. so how can we undo the damage? we could all unsubscribe and switch to xfinity. their connection is unreal. and we could all un-experience this whole session. okay, that's uncalled for.

haidi: resolve their differences

through the two and whether there is any opportunity for both sides to come together for

. this

from the daybreak team broadcasting live from our studio in hong kong. you can listen via the app radio plus or bloomberg radio.com. plenty more ahead. stay with us. these politicians can never agree. emma. we don't always agree like you're into politics. it stresses me out. you sleep hot, i sleep cool. you like sleeping in luxury. i like spending less. i guess that's why we agreed on

this sofa mattress. maybe america needs a saatva. at least we'd be comfortable disagreeing. saatva luxury mattresses made affordable far. we know this course. and this one. and this one. we know them well because we're experts in banking and global markets. so when hawaii needed a champion for clean energy, we knew the course inside and out. when a major new york airport needed to finance their state of the art terminal, we knew what to do. so when you're looking for a corporate and investment bank as a partner, mizuho americas, a name worth knowing, proud title sponsor of the mizuho americas open. we're seeing that ai adoption, especially amongst business decision makers, is surpassing all other modern technologies. people look at efficiencies in ai, but the real important side

is looking at how can it make us more creative and interesting. these technologies demand very different approaches and business models in order to implement them. with ai, adoption is all about how do you create a global brand, but with a local soul? some breaking news when it comes to the australian money manager, perpetual and kkr perpetual is to the managing director will retire upon the completion of the deal. it is expected to occur in 2025. they are expected to get the cash proceeds as well.

units will be sold for $2.175 billion. we have heard what happens to perpetua is it will be a multi-boutique asset management firm. this will become a fund management business under a new name. it is expected the proceeds will be used to pay debt and tax on capital and left over to -- leftovers will be returned to shareholders. we heard perpetual started to unlock value for shareholders at the end of last year. there was early interest in the company. they rejected a $3.5 billion aussie dollar takeover in december. the australian option, now there is wealth management that is one of them. the other will be sold for

$2.175 billion aussie dollar total. more details on the deal as they currencies, we saw a big jump in the u.s. dollar and that is having an impact on the yen. 154.84. we heard from policymakers in japan saying they are ready to take further measures. the finance minister this morning saying the government continues to closely monitor these levels in the fx market. standing ready to take all possible measures as needed. saying it is important for rates to remain stable to reflect fundamentals. much of the same commentary and jawboning we have heard from officials previously. we have seen relatively steady levels in the yen the past few sessions. typically we have seen a weaker yen benefit japanese automakers.

let's look at how they are faring as earnings season season begins. toyota, nissan, honda and mazda are all set to report. we were speaking earlier to one of our reporters who was talking about the feeding correlation between currency benefits and how we see performance in stock prices of those automakers. they are all trading. toyota having the biggest gains in chairs in 2025. let's bring in analysis. our guest is christopher richter, analyst at clsa. great to have you with us, what will be the highlight for you in terms of the outperformer out of the japanese automakers this earnings season? question four: the two i will be focusing on our toyota motor which you just talked about. we are curious to see how they guide because they are most likely to post record earnings this year. not so much on the currency as

you mentioned earlier, but more on the fact that the last fiscal year was the best sales for global automotive in a decade, as the market in the last fiscal year recovered from covid and the chip shortage. this is going to benefit japanese automakers across the board particularly toyota. we will see how they guide with that, what they assume about currency, and what impacts some of the compliance problems at they have had some subsidiaries like daihatsu. the other one we are interested to what is subaru. subaru has been having a new product launches and have seen some strong growth in profits of earlier in the fiscal year. we know they have more product coming in fiscal year march 25.

haidi: are they best placed to benefit, particularly in light of geopolitical tensions and competition from china, but also that access to the u.s. market? christopher: it's funny, for all the criticism in past years about self paddling on evs, they look pretty fresh and right now given the interest in hybrids we have been seeing. it is very positive for their bottom line. granted, this is i think a respite that might last for a couple of years. eventually they will have to turn more to evs and we know they have a lot of research and development activity right now to have improved evs in the market starting around 2026. but for now, it is a game on with the hybrids. annabelle: the r&d they are putting into evs in particular, do you think that will allow them to remain competitive with

the chinese automakers that are capturing so much market share? christopher: that his rental. the question is, what is the long-term future and not just for toyota in china, but every single western legacy automaker in china. they have lost quite a bit of market share in the last four years, particularly in the last year as evs have really taken off in china. china is by far are the leading ev market in the world. or does everybody retreat and say ok, china is sort of a galapagos, and they worry about the rest of the world? i think toyota wants to get in the game. they need to be the equal of both byd and tesla in evs. they are working towards that. the question is can they do it?

annabelle: yes, we have seen toyota for instance pairing with china's tencent. nissan will team up with baidu what do you make of those partnerships? christopher: the big change in chinese evs, particularly since the pandemic, they are viewed less as cars permitted more as devices. being associated with these tech companies is, they need to import some of that technology and know-how into their cars, especially since technology doesn't flow freely over borders these days. you need to have one solution for china and one solution for everywhere else. annabelle: that was christopher richter, senior research analyst at clsa. thank you so much for your trading insights ahead of those very closely-taught japanese auto earnings. we will have "daybreak: asia." this is bloomberg. ♪

annabelle: a separately lackluster trading session so far for asian equities broadly but one of them is giving us something to talk about this morning, hd hyundai marvin solution. it is a ship-repair company.

just started trading this morning. let's bring in philippe laffont's incredible results so far. 40% surge on the first day. it was a bit expected, right? filipe: it's great to have something great to talk about. it has been so tough here in hong kong so this is a refresher. it was expected to have great performance on the first day of trade. this company is part of the human day group, a very specific business, they work in repairing chips for clients all over the world -- in repairing ships. we heard there was very good demand for the shares, 200x above what was being offered. but the stock was priced at the top of the range. the size of this ipo is around $550 million. if we were talking about the size of -- a deal of this size three years ago, it wouldn't be

outstanding. but this is the second largest dealer in asia pacific. definitely a very big deal. it is the largest deal in seoul since 2022. we are expecting to see the stock saying in this range as a result of the excitement. haidi: does that mean we can see more deals of this size and scale in south korea? filipe: i think it's fair to say that there is an expectation that the pipeline of deals in south korea this year will be larger than what we saw throughout 2023. what we are hearing in the market is that there is a lot of excitement with corporate reforms in the country. there is the expectation that there will be a lot of value unlocked in the large conglomerates in south korea. and we have seen a lot of activity, a lot of placements, huge names that came to the market to sell stakes in korean companies already listed.

this builds momentum for initial public offering's also to help them. there is a lot of excitement in the market. south korea is one of the busiest places when it comes to this activity. we talked of bankers and aca pipeline coming to market before the end of the year. annabelle: of course the question is if you have that level of excitement and interest in south korea, are we going to see that translated? filipe: hopefully. i think there is expectations that we are going to see deals coming to market more than they did last year. those coming to market are expected to trade well. annabelle: outside of career though? filipe: outside of korea, that is a harder question. if we look at india, for example, yes, there is a pipeline and deals are coming to market constantly and getting bigger and bigger. they want, you have a lot of activity in the secondary market. a lot of dds, for example, in

europe. china and hong kong are a bit harder to say. annabelle:. annabelle: that was our equity capital markets reporter filipe pacheco there. that's it from "daybreak: asia." our better markets cup continues as we continue to the start of trading in shanghai, hong kong and shenzhen next. this is bloomberg. ♪

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