Asian stocks recoil as tech stocks continue to sour, Nikkei falls over 2%

• Pacific-Asia stock markets are continuing Wall Street’s moves to the downside.
• Hopes of a reduction in US-China trade tensions are keeping buoyant, but investors remain skeptical.

Asian equity markets largely slid backwards for Tuesday as investors followed Wall Street’s lead, with trade worries continuing to weigh on indexes alongside a Fed that is still on pace for further rate hikes, a fracturing tech-stock outlook, and an evaporating November bounce.

Early Tuesday trading turned briefly hopeful after headlines broke that China’s Vice premier Liu He is slated to visit the US on trade talks with a focus on de-escalating current tensions, but bullish leanings are proving to be short-lived as technology stocks continue to take a pummeling on declining demand for consumer electronics as the market’s proverbial “worry wall” continues to build higher.

Losses are being felt in tech-heavy Japan, with the Nikkei 225 sitting down -2.25% for the day with the Tokyo Topix index in the red for a similar -2.15%, while Chinese equities are managing to hold onto hopes from trade-focused headlines, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index at -0.10%, mixing with Shanghai’s CSI 300 index gains of 0.13%. Australia’s ASX 200  also sees declines, in the red by -1.65% while emerging markets remain weak-kneed, with the MSCI broad Asia-Pacific index softly lower at -0.36%.

Nikkei 225 Technical Levels