Asian stocks brace ahead of US-China trade talks

After several months of little to no action from either side, a trade delegation led by China's vice commerce minister is heading to Washington, DC to engage in trade talks with the US, and the news that US-China trade talks will resume is seeing Asian equities noticeably steel themselves, while concerns on China's growth figures continue to weigh and emerging markets roil on contagion fears from Turkey.

The last set of talks between the US and China was back in early June and little progress was seen at the last meeting, and the possibility of a steepening slowdown in China is seeing indexes weighed down. In Turkey, the Lira is seeing plenty volatility, bolstered on Thursday by announcements that Qatar will be assisting Turkey with gaining control of their currency and stock markets, though the insistence by the US that tariffs on Turkey will remain in place could still see further degradation in emerging markets as time goes on.

Japan's Nikkei 225 is down a relatively sedate -0.24% today, with Tokyo's Topix index down -0.70%; equities are also on the backfoot in China, with Hong Kong's Hang Seng index down -0.61% and Shanghai's CSI 300 matching at -0.60%; things are notably better in Australia, where the ASX 200 is barely in the red by -0.11%, but emerging markets throughout Asia are far worse off, with the MSCI broad Pacific-Asia excluding Japan index falling -0.75% for Thursday.

Nikkei 225 levels to watch

Japan's leading equity index is backing into the 22,000.00 major technical handle, currently sitting near 22,175.00 on Thursday, after hitting into a low of 21,850.00 this week, and the index's recovery saw hesitation at 22,380.00 as markets continue to remain under pressure on trade and global tensions. Bulls will be looking to remount the 22,800.00 handle at the month's peaks, though continued downside pressure will see the Nikkei 225 fall into July's bottom at 21,460.00.