Ending January On A Weaker Note

The regional tone to Asia Pac equities is a weaker one for Tuesday's session. The weaker lead from Wall St through Monday's session didn't help, while China/HK sentiment didn't get a lift from better PMI outcomes, particularly in the services sector. US futures are also lower, failing to hold early positive momentum. Weakness is most evident in the Nasdaq, off -0.35% at this stage.

• HK and China bourses look to be seeing a bout of profit-taking. The HSI is off by near 1.30% so far today, with the tech sub-index down by 1.70% after yesterday's 4.84% fall. The China Dragon index was also down sharply in Monday US trade, -4.1%. Still, the HSI is up 10.15% for the whole of the month.
• The CSI 300 is down by 0.80%, more than unwinding Monday's +0.47% gain. The official services PMI surged to 54.4 (versus 52.0 expected). The detail also suggest further improvement in the outlook. The result didn't drive better sentiment in the equity space.
• The Kospi is off by 0.70% at this stage. A weaker than expected earnings update from Samsung electronics didn't help, while offshore investors have sold around $115mn of local shares today. The Taiex is off by over 1.10%, which comes after yesterday's +3.8% gain and where offshore investors added +$2.5bn to local stocks.
• Philippine shares also continue to track lower into month end, down nearly 4% over the past two sessions (2.8% today). Indian shares also remain on the back foot (Sensex -0.40% at the moment).