Another Broadly Negative Session In Asia

Equity markets in the Asia-Pac time zone ended the week with another broadly negative session, sentiment remains negative as markets contemplate the spread of the delta variant of coronavirus and China's regulatory crackdown. Markets in mainland China led the way lower, the CSI 300 down over 2%, ChiNext declined 3.1%, the most since July 27. The healthcare/medical sector is the latest in the crosshairs of China's regulatory watchdogs while Evergrande was also told to resolve its debt problems which added to negative sentiment. Markets in Japan are lower to the tune of around 0.6%, some peripheral headlines surrounding the local COVID situation, but nothing in the way market-meaningful input, CPI fell slightly less than expected. Markets in New Zealand also lower after coronavirus cases were discovered in Wellington, the outbreak had previously been confined to Auckland. In the US futures were lower after a mixed finish on Thursday.