Lower In Asia After FOMC Minutes

Virtually all regional equity indices are lower at typing, tracking a negative lead from Wall St. as participants in Asia react to the release of the July FOMC minutes, with recession-related worry taking focus. Semiconductor stocks struggled after U.S. chipmaker Analog Devices (-5.0%) warned of demand headwinds (joining recent warnings from the likes of Nvidia, Intel and Micron), with favoured names such as Taiwan’s TSMC Corp. shedding 1.3% at writing.

• The Hang Seng sits 0.6% worse off at writing, on track for a third consecutive lower daily close on weakness in the finance (-1.4%) and property (-0.6%) sub-indices. The underperformance in the latter duo comes after Chinese developer Country Garden (-5.2%) reported preliminary earnings, warning that H1 earnings could decline by as much as 70%.
• The CSI300 trades 0.9% lower at writing, with losses observed across much of the indice’s constituents. The richly-valued consumer staples (-1.9%) and healthcare (-1.6%) sub-indices lead the way lower, with real estate equities struggling as well (CSI300 Real Estate Index: -1.7%).
• The Nikkei deals 0.9% weaker, shedding practically all of Wednesday’s gains at writing. Favoured names such as Fast Retailing (-1.6%) Fanuc Corp (-1.6%) lead the way lower, with losses observed in >80% of the index’s constituents.
• E-minis sit a little below neutral levels at writing after a fairly directionless Asian session, operating towards the lower end of their respective ranges established on Wednesday.