Asia-Pac Markets Drop, US Futures Pick Up From Closing Lows

Stocks in Asia came under heavy selling pressure, taking a negative lead from the US. The MSCI Asia-Pac index hit the lowest since December. The Hang Seng was down 1.70%, weighed by Alibaba which hit record lows during the session, the tech selloff in China's technology giants has continued as the government continues its crackdown. In Mainland China indices were down by around 1%, Tencent's earnings disappointed as the firm warned of regulatory curbs, Markets in Japan were down by around 0.8%, while emerging market indices endured hefty losses with the Kospi and Taiex both down over 1.8%. Risk off sentiment saw the greenback hit the highest levels since November 2020. In the US futures picked up slightly after plunging into the close on Wednesday.