Regional Asian Equities Lower As Tech Rally Takes A Break

Regional Asian Equities are lower today, there has been little in the way of market drivers or headlines so far today with markets largely following the moves from the US on Wednesday, with the tech stock rally taking a break.

• Japan equities are lower again today as the two-month rally takes a break. Tech stocks have led the move lower after US giants Nvidia and Apple sold over during the US session. Foreign investors sold ¥206b of Japanese stocks the first outflow for the year, while BoJ's Takata was out earlier with a hawkish tone, noting the price target is finally coming into sight, despite the economic uncertainty. Currently the Topix is down 0.46% while the Nikkei 225 is 0.50% lower.
• South Korean equities are flat today, again out-preforming the wider market. News out yesterday that Zuckerberg was meeting the heads of LG and Samsung and discussed AI technology spurred the markets higher and helped attract foreign equity inflows with $473m coming in on Wednesday.
• Taiwan Equities were closed yesterday
• Australian equities are flat today with weakness in Financials and Mining sectors weighing on the market, earlier retail sales data came in under estimates at 1.1% vs 1.5%.
• Elsewhere in SEA, NZ equities are lower today, down 0.70%, Indonesian equities saw positive foreign inflows on Wednesday, equities trading mostly unchanged today, while Singapore & Malaysia equities are a touch higher today up 0.10%-0.40%.