Asian equities were mixed overnight as Hong Kong, Mainland China, Thailand, and South Korea all underperformed while Taiwan was closed.

China on Thursday detailed measures to encourage state-owned funds and insurers to buy more shares, aimed at stabilizing the struggling stock market at a time when U.S. President Donald Trump is preparing to announce tariffs on Chinese imports.

State-owned insurers and mutual funds are expected to play a pivotal role in the process, the China Securities Regulatory Commission and the Ministry of Finance said in a press briefing.

On Monday, Hong Kong-listed growth stocks had a strong day, as the Hang Seng Index gained +1.75% and the Hang Seng Tech Index gained +2.59% following U.S. President Donald Trump and China President Xi Jinping’s Friday phone call that took place after Asia markets closed and before the U.S. markets opened.

State-owned insurers and mutual funds are expected to play a pivotal role in the process of stabilizing the stock market.

China announced plans on Thursday to channel hundreds of billions of yuan of investment from state-owned insurers into shares as part of the government's latest efforts to support a struggling stock market.

Beijing is seeing diminishing returns on repeated attempts to reinvigorate the market, as investors worry about harder-to-control economic fundamentals, like weak consumer spending and the prolonged property crunch.