Local stocks have generally struggled in.....>

STOCKS: Local stocks have generally struggled in Asia-Pac hours, with the major

indices all edging lower, following Wall St.'s lead.

- The industrial sector underperformed in Japan, while Australia saw the IT &

Communications sectors lead the way lower.

- Alphabet & Amazon provided the highlights of Thursday's after hours earnings,

with the former topping expectations in most of the major metrics, while

Amazon's headline EPS missed exp. Elsewhere, the likes of Intel and Starbucks

fared well, allowing U.S. equity index futures to move higher overnight, even as

the Australian government highlight privacy issues surrounding Goggle &

Facebook.

- Nikkei 225 -0.5%, Hang Seng -0.5%, CSI 300 -0.2%, ASX 200 -0.2%.

- DJIA futures +51, S&P 500 futures +7, NASDAQ 100 futures +34.