Following Wall St. Lower; Hang Seng Approaches Six-Month Lows

Virtually all Asia-Pac equity index benchmarks are in the red at typing. Tech and high-beta equities across the region broadly underperformed, reflecting Tuesday’s tech-led sell-off on Wall St.

• The Nikkei 225 trades 2.2% lower, with IT stocks and large-caps Fast Retailing (-2.8%) & Softbank Group (-3.5%) underperforming, unwinding the bulk of their gains observed in the sessions prior to Tuesday’s CPI print. The broader TOPIX fared a little better, dealing 1.6% softer at writing.
• The CSI300 sits 1.2% worse off, with the high-beta consumer staples and healthcare sub-indices contributing the most to drag. Chinese tech struggled, with the ChiNext dealing 2.0% weaker at writing.
• The Hang Seng (-2.6%) brings up the rear amongst regional peers and operates just above six-month lows made last Thursday, having reversed the bid observed after the long weekend.
• The ASX200 deals 2.5% softer at writing, with losses observed across virtually all constituents. The major miners and “Big 4” banks lead the way lower, with the latter group sitting 2.2-3.7% worse off apiece.
• E-minis deal 0.1-0.2% firmer apiece, holding the bulk of their losses observed on Tuesday at writing (having closed between ~4.0-5.5% lower).