Tech Headwinds Limit Gains

Regional equity markets are mostly in the green, although headwinds in the tech space have taken the shine off what would have been a fairly positive end to the week for Asia Pac bourses. Intel's disappointing earnings update has kept US futures in the red for the whole session. We were last around -0.55% for Nasdaq futures, while Eminis are down -0.25% at this stage.

• Reports that Japan and the Netherlands will join the US in curbing technology related exports to China has also weighed on sentiment in the tech space.
• The HSI is back to flat for the session, after opening up higher. Semiconductor related names have fallen, although the HSI Tech sub index is still up 0.33% at this stage (yesterday we rose 4.26%, while the Golden Dragon index was up strongly in US trade for Thursday.
• Optimism around China re-opening, with strong anecdotes of travel and related expenditure through the LNY period is providing an offset.
• The Nikkei 225 is around flat at this stage as well, while the Kospi is +0.70%, but is off earlier highs. The Kospi is comfortably through the simple 200-day MA.
• Indian shares are down with the main indices off by around 1% at this stage. Adani shares continue to fall, after the recent short-seller report, while bank names are also down today.