Equities Lower As Investor Dump Tech, Weigh Up Biden Dropping Out

Regional Asian equities are lower today, driven by various factors including political uncertainties, foreign investors flows and the PBoC lowering LPRs. Asian tech stocks continue to see heavy selling, especially in Taiwan this is largely tied to comments made last week by Trump and the Biden administration, while investors weigh up the implications of Joe Biden ending his re-election campaign and endorsing Kamala Harris. The VIX spiked on Friday hitting 17, levels not seen since late April.

• Japanese equities are lower today, growth stocks are the worst hit, while investors have continued selling tech stocks after the Biden administration announced potential trade restrictions on companies selling to China, investors are also looking to cut positions as we head into earnings season which kicks off on Tuesday with motor maker Nidec releasing earnings. Both the Topix and Nikkei are trading about 1% lower, while the TSE Growth 250 is down 2.50%, banking stocks are the best performing with the Topix Bank Index down just 0.70%.
• South Korean equities are continuing to be hit hard by the weakness int he semiconductor sector, with the likes of SK Hynix down 1.90%. Foreign investors continue to sell local stocks with $327m outflow on Friday, foreign investors have continued that theme today with tech stocks again being sold, although there is a bit of a rotation into financials. The Kospi is currently trading 1.20% lower, while the small-cap focus Kosdaq is down 2.45% and now trading towards the ytd lows made in Feb.
• Taiwan equities are the worst performing market today as heavy selling continues in semiconductor names with TSMC off 3%. Foreign investors sold about $5.5b in Taiwanese stocks last week and have now erased all inflows for the year. The selling pressure is largely on the back of Trump's comments on Taiwan protecting themselves from China, and dominance in the semiconductor space, plus the Biden Administrations comments on trade restrictions. The Taiex is trading down 2.50%.
• Australian equities are largely tracking global prices lower, metals and miners are the worst performing sector as global commodity prices trade lower this morning, the ASX200 is 0.70% lower. New Zealand equities are slightly higher this morning after healthcare stocks surged on the back of Arvida making a bid for Stonepeak at over a 50% premium to last traded price, pulling the sector up with it, the NZX 50 is 0.20% higher.
• In EM Asia markets are mixed, Indonesia's JCI is 0.15% higher, Philippine's PSEi is up 0.40% & India's Nifty 50 is 0.10% higher, while Singapore's Strait Times is 0.10% lower and Malaysia's Malay KLCI is 1.10% lower.