(We're excited to announce that Morning Bid Asia will be

rebranded as Trading Day as of March 3. It's not just the title

that's changing. We're enhancing the newsletter to offer you

more in-depth analysis and insightful commentary on global

markets from Jamie McGeever, Reuters' markets columnist. We hope

you'll enjoy the new format.)

By Jamie McGeever

Feb 28 (Reuters) - A look at the day ahead in Asian

markets.

A mega wave of regional economic data breaks on Asian markets on

Friday, with investors already bracing for a nervous end to the

month as they weigh up tariff threats from Washington, further

signs of U.S. economic slowdown, and fatigue on Wall Street.

Top-tier indicators from Asia due on Friday include Tokyo

inflation, Japanese retail sales and industrial production, and

fourth quarter GDP from India, while keenly-awaited PCE

inflation figures from the US will also be released.

The mood going into the final trading day of the month is

pessimistic, soured by deepening concerns over the impact U.S.

President Donald Trump's proposed tariffs will have on growth.

In the last 24 hours Trump has said 25% duties will be slapped

on imports from the European Union, reiterated that tariffs on

imports from Canada and Mexico will come into effect on March 4

- not April 2 as he had previously suggested - and said goods

from China will be subject to an additional 10% duty.

Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda echoed these concerns from

Cape Town, where the G20 meeting of finance ministers and

central bank governors - which officials from many countries,

including the U.S., skipped - concluded without consensus or

communique.

This is another sign of the fraying of the global financial and

economic order that has held for decades. The G20 "chair's

summary" said participants "reiterated the commitment to

resisting protectionism," but the wind from Washington is

blowing in the opposite direction.

The impact on stocks continues to be most visible in tech. The

Nasdaq fell sharply again on Thursday and is now down 5% year to

date, significantly underperforming the Dow and S&P 500.

Chipmaker Nvidia may have issued reasonably decent results

and forecasts on Wednesday but investors slammed the shares down

8.5% on Thursday. The upside for continued growth in revenue,

earnings and the share price at the pace seen in recent years is

negligible, so it's understandable fatigue is setting in.

Tesla shares are also on the slide, extending their losses

on Thursday to more than 20% in barely a week. An ETF tracking

the 'Magnificent Seven' U.S. tech shares hit a three-month low

on Thursday too, and is down almost 10% since Feb. 18.

U.S. Big Tech's losses have been Chinese tech's gains, a

rotation turbo-charged by the emergence of Chinese low-cost

artificial intelligence model DeepSeek. Hong Kong-listed Chinese

tech shares hit a fresh three-year high on Thursday before

closing lower, and are on track for a monthly gain of 25%.

But with U.S. yields and the dollar also up, Asian stocks and

currencies are set to open on Friday under pressure.

Here are key developments that could provide more direction

to Asian markets on Friday:

- Japan Tokyo inflation (February)

- Japan industrial production, retail sales (January)

- India GDP (Q4)