Asian stocks turn higher in choppy trade, growth concerns persist

© Reuters.

Investing.com-- Most Asian stocks pared early losses and rose on Thursday, although persistent concerns over slowing economic growth and higher interest rates kept markets volatile and still limited overall gains.

Regional markets took a negative lead-in from a weak overnight session on Wall Street, as a rebound from multi-month lows faltered. U.S. stock index futures also fell in Asian trade. 

Heightened fears of a U.S. recession battered Wall Street in recent sessions, as did a string of middling earnings from heavyweight technology stocks.

Concerns over an economic slowdown in China also weighed after underwhelming trade data from the country on Wednesday.

Nikkei, TOPIX volatile as recovery stalls 

Japan’s Nikkei 225 and TOPIX indexes moved in a flat-to-low range on Thursday as a rebound over the past two days ran dry. The two had fallen sharply in early morning trade, but pared a bulk of their losses. 

Japanese stocks had rebounded from an over 10% rout in the past two days after some Bank of Japan officials attempted to downplay the bank’s hawkish outlook on interest rates.

But a summary of opinions of BOJ policymakers, released on Thursday, showed members of the central bank still saw room for more rate hikes, and that interest rates would have to reach around 1% to attain a level neutral to the economy. 

An unexpectedly hawkish tone from the BOJ was the main driver of a recent rout in Japanese markets, which saw the Nikkei and the TOPIX enter bear market territory on Monday.

Some underwhelming earnings also weighed, with tech investment giant SoftBank Group Corp. (TYO:9984) falling nearly 4% after it clocked an unexpected loss in the June quarter. 

Asian tech weakens tracking US peers 

Major Asian technology stocks also fell tracking weak signals from their U.S. peers, especially in the chipmaking sector. U.S. chip stocks saw two days of steep losses following underwhelming earnings from Super Micro Computer Inc (NASDAQ:SMCI). 

South Korea’s KOSPI shed 0.5%, paring some early losses, while Taiwan’s TSMC (TW:2330)- the world’s biggest contract chipmaker- fell 2%. 

Chinese stocks rise, but weak trade data limits gains

China’s Shanghai Shenzhen CSI 300 and Shanghai Composite indexes rose 0.4% each from more than five-month lows, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 0.7%.

Trade data on Wednesday continued to paint a dour picture of the economy, as China’s trade surplus shrank much more than expected in July. Exports unexpectedly shrank after the European Union imposed steep tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, while China’s imports of copper and oil also fell sharply. 

Broader Asian markets were muted. Australia’s ASX 200 fell 0.3%.

Futures for India’s Nifty 50 index pointed to a positive open after the index and the BSE Sensex 30 rebounded sharply from recent losses on Wednesday.

Focus is on a meeting of Reserve Bank of India due later in the day, where the central bank is widely expected to keep rates unchanged.