A weaker start to the week for Asian equities
Japanese stocks are weaker on the day as the risk mood is slightly more on the defensive, with US futures also down by 0.3%. More notably, sentiment around the region is much softer as a result of increasing violence in the Hong Kong protests.
The Hang Seng is down by 2.4% while the Shanghai Composite is down by 1.4% currently and that is also weighing on risk as we get things going on the session.
However, in the bigger picture, the lack of a unified message in the US-China trade rhetoric is also something that will keep chipping away at confidence for risk trades. As such, USD/JPY continues to hold at the lows to start the session, near 109.00.