Asian Equity Flows Negative As SK Sees Outflows From Tech Names

• China equities were lower on Wednesday while also seeing -1.5 billion yuan in outflows via northbound connect. The market will again be focused on the NPC; on Wednesday afternoon, the CSRC said it will move to fix “market failures” in extreme cases, giving its most detailed pledge yet on when it acts to contain turmoil in the world’s second-largest stock market. China's chip-related stocks may trade weaker today as the US urges allies to squeeze China on chip technology. The 5-day average continues to trend lower, now at 0.85 billion vs the 20-day average at 2.6 billion yuan.
• South Korean equities were lower on Wednesday while foreign equity flows saw the worst outflow since Jan 17th at -$285m. This could be linked to the doubt being cast around the breakthrough made by researchers behind LK-99 who have claimed to have synthesized a new material showing superconducting behaviour at room temperature. The 5-day average is $225m, while the 20-day average sits at $210m.
• Taiwan equities were higher on Wednesday up 0.60% led higher by semiconductor names, while flows turned negative with $13.1m leaving the market. The 5-day average is $329m, while the 20-day average sits at $260m.
• Thailand equities were higher on Wednesday after weaker CPI reading on Tuesday build a case to lower rates with Wednesday breaking the run of outflows that have been seen over the past week or so, $52m of foreign equity inflows hit the market, taking the 5-day to -$38m, while the 20-day still sits at -$10m
• Philippines equities were slightly higher on Wednesday and continues its run of inflow days now marking the 25th day in the row. The Philippine Central Bank Governor signalled policy makers would likely not cut rates for a while. The 5-day average is now $8.1m, while the 20-day average is -$7.5m

Table 1: EM Asia Equity Flows