[MARKET ANALYSIS] Asia-Pac stocks are mostly lower amid geopolitical escalation with Houthis joining in the Middle East conflict

APAC Stocks: Negative

• Asia-Pac stocks were pressured following the geopolitical escalation over the weekend, in which Yemeni Houthis launched missiles towards Israel to enter the conflict for the first time, while the US and Israel also conducted strikes on Iran's largest steel plants and some energy-related facilities. Furthermore, there were some mixed comments from US President Trump that the US could take oil in Iran and could take Kharg Island 'very easily', but also stated that they had good negotiations with Iran and claimed Iran responded to the 15-point plan and gave them most points, without providing further details.

ASX 200: -0.8%

• Index declined with the downside led by underperformance in tech and financials, although losses are somewhat cushioned by resilience in the energy, defensives and commodity-related sectors.

Nikkei 225: -3.7%

• Suffered heavy losses with the index down by more than 2000 points in early trade amid pressure from higher oil prices and jawboning by Japanese officials, while the Summary of Opinions continued to show a hawkish bias and money markets are currently pricing in a near coin flip between a hike and a hold at the next BoJ meeting in April.

Hang Seng & Shanghai Comp: Hang Seng -1.1% / Shanghai Comp +0.2%

• Chinese markets are mixed as participants digest a deluge of earnings, including ICBC, China Construction Bank, BoCom, PetroChina and BYD, while it was also reported late last week that China began probes on US trade practices in retaliation for the US Section 301 investigations.

US Equity Futures: Marginally

• Index futures were pressured at the open amid the geopolitical escalation, but have since nursed most of the initial losses.

European Equity Futures -0.8%

• Indicate a lower cash market open with Euro Stoxx 50 futures down 0.8% after the cash market closed with losses of 1.1% on Friday.