China GDP grows 5% in Q1, beats expectations on exports, spending strength
A seven-day rally in global equities paused during Thursday’s Asian session, following a mixed overnight performance on Wall Street. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and Russell 2000 slid 0.7% and 1.4%, respectively, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 pushed to fresh record highs, up 0.1% and 0.3%.
Gains were driven by mega-cap tech names including Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) (+1.7%), Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) (+1.7%), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) (+1%), and Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) (+0.9%).
Asia’s Longest Winning Streak Since January Ends
Asia-Pacific markets snapped their longest winning streak of the year. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index dropped 0.9% intraday after hitting a 3.5-year high, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.9%, just shy of its all-time peak at 42,427. Singapore’s Straits Times Index also saw profit-taking, down 0.3% after a record-breaking 14-session rally.
Profit-taking and the US Dollar Rebound Pressure Asian Equities
Today’s Asian regional pullback likely reflects overbought conditions and a technical rebound in the US dollar after a four-day losing streak. The US Dollar Index’s intraday firm tone is weighing on risk assets in Asia as traders reassess their short-term bullish momentum.
The worst performers against the US dollar at this time of writing are CAD (-0.17%), AUD (-0.16%), and GBP (-0.13%)
The intraday bounce seen in the US dollar is also reinforced by a slowdown in growth in Japan’s leading inflation gauge, where Tokyo’s core-core CPI (excluding food and energy) advanced at a slower pace of 2.9% y/y in July, a drop from 3.1% recorded in June.
Gold Slips Further as US Dollar Firms, Support Levels in Focus
Gold (XAU/USD) declined for the third straight session, falling 0.4% intraday. The yellow metal is now approaching key support at its 20- and 50-day moving averages near US$3,333, amid headwinds from a strengthening US dollar.
Economic Data Releases
Fig 1: Key data for today’s Asia mid-session (Source: MarketPulse)
Chart of the Day – Hang Seng Index At Risk of Minor Corrective Decline
Fig 2: Hong Kong 33 CFD Index minor & medium-term trends as of 25 July 2025 (Source: TradingView)
The price actions of the Hong Kong 33 CFD Index (a proxy of the Hang Seng Index Futures) have rallied as expected.
The two weeks of advancement have hit the upper boundary of a major ascending channel from the January 2024 low, now acting as an intermediate resistance at 25,750. The hourly RSI momentum indicator has just staged a bearish breakdown below a parallel ascending support from 19 June.
These observations suggest that bullish momentum has waned, and the Hong Kong 33 CFD Index is likely to stage a potential imminent minor corrective decline to retrace some of the gains seen from the prior rally from the 4 July 2025 low to the 24 July 2025 high (see Fig. 2).
Watch the 25,750 key short-term pivotal resistance, and a break below 25,260 may reinforce the minor corrective decline sequence on the Hong Kong 33 CFD Index to expose the next intermediate support at 24,940/850.
On the flipside, a clearance above 25,750 revives the bullish tone for the continuation of the bullish impulsive up move sequence to seek out the next intermediate resistance at 26,030/26,220 (Fibonacci extension and medium-term swing high areas of 20/26 October 2021).