Asian stocks mixed, risk recovery hesitates as investors second-guess Wall Street recovery

• Asian markets remain underwhelmed as stocks churn away at familiar levels.
• Risk appetite’s mid-week recovery looks set to stall out as the US buckles down for a Thanksgiving holiday, promising thin markets until Friday’s late session.

Wall Street established a half-hearted recovery to close out Wednesday’s markets before buckling down for a Thursday Thanksgiving holiday, and the Asian indexes remained off-balance for Thursday’s early window, with major bourses spreading the middle as investors await further impetus.

After another recent market shock that saw investors’ risk appetite nose-dive led by a massive rout in US technology stocks, Asian-session investors are hesitant to dip their feet back in the water, and the previous US session which managed to stage a moderate upswing in techs ended at the doors, and the Pacific region sees traders sitting and waiting as trade war fears, China’s perceived domestic slowdown, and flagging investment conditions across the globe keep market participants off-kilter.

Japan is seeing moderate gains on the day, with the Nikkei 225 and Tokyo  Topix index both up 0.52% and 0.62% respectively, and the mood in Australia remains similarly well-bid, with the ASX 200 climbing 0.86% so far for Thursday; emerging markets are weak-kneed heading into the latter end of the week, with the MSCI broad Asia-Pacific index retreating -0.27%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng remains flat on the day at -0.01% and Shanghai’s CSI 300 index in the red by -0.60% for Thursday.

Nikkei 225 Technical Levels