Asian Equities Find Support As Market Digests US GDP Beat

Asian equities are mostly higher today, as investors weigh up strong US GDP data with firming chances of a US rate cut in September. South Korean equities are the top performers, led higher by major tech stocks, Japanese equities have seesawed ahead of the BoJs meeting next week and Taiwan returned after heavy Typhoons hit with the market playing catch up. Locally we have had Tokyo CPI which came in just below estimates.

• Japanese equities equities have fluctuated today although all major benchmarks now trade higher, the market is awaiting the BoJ meeting next week, while the USDJPY has held steady today trading in a tight range. bank stocks are the top performers today with the Topix Bank Index up 1.50%, while the border Topix & Nikkei are trading about 0.50% higher.
• South Korean equities are higher today, although foreign investors have been net sellers of local stocks with rotation out of tech and into financials occurring. SK Hynix, up 1.50% has contributed most to the index gains. Kospi is 0.85% higher, while the Kosdaq is 0.40% higher.
• Taiwan equity markets have returned after strong Typhoons hit the island, with the Taiex falling about 4% on the open, we have since seen some recovery and now trade down 3.30%. Semiconductors have been hit hard over the past week or so with the Philadelphia SE Semiconductor Index down 8% over the past 5 sessions.
• Australian equities higher today, driven by a rebound in mining with Iron Ore 2.15% higher and firm financial stocks, the ASX200 is 0.90% higher. Next week focus will turn to Retail Sales and CPI on Wednesday. The NZX 50 has largely missed the weeks sell-off and trades up 0.70% for the week after large jump higher in three stocks, currently the index is unchanged for the day.
• In EM Asia markets are mixed with Malaysia's KLCI down 0.26%, Singapore's Strait Times Unchanged while Indonesia's JCI is 0.55% higher, Philippine's PSEi is 0.50% higher.