Mixed As Chinese Equities Struggle

The major Asia-Pac equity indices are mixed at typing, bucking a positive lead from Wall St. Still, equity indices across the region remain on track to record gains for at least a second week with the exception of the CSI300, as persistent weakness has been observed in Chinese high-beta large caps after the PBoC’s monthly LPR fixings were conducted at unchanged levels on Monday.

• Australia’s ASX200 shrugged off the broader trend of losses, sitting 0.3% better off at the close on outperformance in its materials and energy sub-indices.
• The Nikkei 225 sits virtually unchanged at typing after opening sharply higher, trading on either side of neutral levels, leaving a 7-day streak of gains in the balance. The earlier move lower came as USD/JPY retreated below the Y122.00 mark, with that dynamic weighing after the recent yen weakness boosted hopes re: corporate earnings for Japanese companies. Understandably, outperformance in commodity-related sub-indices was countered by weakness in export-oriented names.
• The Hang Seng underperformed, sitting 2.2% worse off at typing. China-based tech names led losses, with the Hang Seng Tech Index dealing ~4.1% softer after index heavyweight JD.com slipped on the issuance of new shares at a relatively steep discount. Large cap peers such as Tencent and Alibaba struggled for a second day, while Meituan (~-7.0% at writing) has fallen ahead of its earnings beat later on Friday.
• U.S. e-mini equity index futures are flat to 0.2% firmer at typing.