Asian stocks on softer footing as China slowdown, trade fears continue

• Asia equities are failing to follow along with the US session’s risk appetite, as trade concerns continue to weigh.
• The BoJ could be switching from buying Nikkei ETFs into the Tokyo Topix soon, encouraging stock traders to begin piling into the Tokyo index.

Asian stock are seeing some soft declines in Thursday’s trading despite a notable risk-off note to broader markets from Wednesday’s US session on positive trade headlines.

The reality of a deepening trade war remains on the table in Asian equities, and President Trump’s recent joint statement with the European Union’s Jean-Claude Juncker did little to ease tensions, especially in China, where fears of a potential economic slowdown are seeing stock traders hesitate.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 index is softly lower at -0.15% for the day, but the Tokyo Topix index is seeing a day in the green, up 0.60% after news that the Bank of Japan (BoJ) may be looking to shift some of their asset purchases from the Nikkei into the Topix in an effort to spread out some of their ownership of Japanese equities; Hong Kong’s Hang Seng is down -0.75%, and Shanghai’s CSI 300 is in the red for almost 0.90% today, while Australia’s ASX 200 is relatively flat at -0.02% for Thrusday.

Nikkei 225 levels to watch

Japan’s leading equity index is flattening out near the week’s highs at 22,650.00, and bulls are having a hard time maintaining the momentum that lifted them from the early week’s lows at 22,400.00, a level that was hit early in the week when the Nikkei dropped at the week’s open just beneath 22,500.00.