Stocks in Asia-Pac are mixed, but have.......>

STOCKS: Stocks in Asia-Pac are mixed, but have bounced off session lows hit

early in the session and paring 2 days of declines. While there was negative

sentiment early in the session, a fairly benign and positive State of the Union

address from Trump has calmed some early jitters in the market. The Nikkei 225

is up 8 points at 23,297, after opening at lows of 23,184 following a negative

lead from US stocks. The upward move has been supported by a weaker yen, USD/JPY

is up 7 pips at 108.85, the pair touched a session high of 109.09 after the BoJ

raised purchases of 3-5 Year JGB's signalling the BOJ's commitment to easing.

The Real Estate sector is the biggest drag on the index, down 1.6%.

- In China the Shanghai Comp is flat at 3,488, in Hong Kong the Hang Seng has

flipped into positive territory, last up 125 points at 32,735. Notably there is

a discrepancy between onshore/offshore stocks, offshore stocks performing well

while onshore remain muted. Small cap stocks are bearing the brunt of any

declines. In Australia the ASX200 is up 12 points at 6,034, erasing earlier

declines. 9/11 sectors are in the green, the heavyweight Materials and Energy

sectors the laggards, limiting upside as oil and metals weakness continues.