A heavy session for the major regional.......>

STOCKS: A heavy session for the major regional Asia-Pac indices, with liquidity

sapped owing to Chinese & South Korean holidays.

- Wednesday's negative global lead applied pressure from the get go.

- The Nikkei 225 has struggled as the JPY has appreciated, while the Hang Seng

has been pressured by the ongoing tension surrounding the well-documented

protests and soft HK economic data.

- Financials generally struggled against the lower yield backdrop, while

Australia's gold miners outperformed on the back of uptick in the yellow metal.

- U.S. equity index futures were a little more resilient in the wake of

yesterday's sell off.

- Nikkei 225 -2.0%, Hang Seng -0.6%, ASX 200 -2.0%.

- S&P 500 futures +9, DJIA futures +73, NASDAQ 100 futures +20.