Asian stocks fall back as China takes a PMI hit

• Asia sees red in a familiar pattern as unease throughout broader markets keeps traders on edge.
• China's economy is continuing to see whispers of slowdown on the back of US-China trade tensions, and a steady decline could see panic begin to grab hold in the near-term.

Asian stock markets backed off once again for Wednesday as trade barriers, emerging markets contagion fears, and wobbly Chinese economic data underpinned a day that saw risk appetite struggling to gain a foothold heading into the latter half of another Non-Farm Payrolls week.

Chinese markets are in retreat after China's Caixin PMI disappointed traders, printing at 51.5, contracting further than expected from the previous month's reading of 52.8 and missing the forecast 52.8. Chinese bourses have withdrawn on the day as fears that the US-Sino trade war begins to claim casualties.

In Australia, GDP figures printed far better than expected, with Aussie GDP for 2018's Q2 coming in far better than expected, printing at 0.9%, just a tick below the first quarter's 1.0% and cleanly beating forecasts. The Australian economy is now growing at its fastest headline pace in six years, but downside caveats from trade and Australia's knock-on relationship with China are dampening the mood.

Japan's Nikkei 225 is relatively undamaged on the day, sticking near -0.20%, while Tokyo Topix index sits at -0.43% and the broader Asia-Pacific MSCI index sits at -0.25% as emerging markets remain grumpy, but no more than usual; Australia's ASX 200 is down almost -0.90% on the day with China's Shanghai CSI 300 off a similar -0.90%, but the Hong Kong Hang Seng bourse is taking a stiffer beating than the rest, in the red by -1.7% for Tuesday.

Nikkei 225 levels to watch

The Nikkei 225 is desperate to cling to the 22,700.00 level, staunchly digging in its heels at the level after slipping from the 23,000.00 major handle last week. Support remains thin at the current region, and a further slip could easily see the major index sliding back to August's lows just above 21,800.00.