Asia stocks edging higher, Nikkei 225 into ¥22,450

• Asia equities trying to push higher, but concerns are still capping risk appetite.
• Equities broadly higher on the day in Asia, but gains are muted.

Equities in the Asia session are trying to push higher for the Thursday window, and the Nikkei is continuing to push up for the day despite a quite slip in early markets.

The Nikkei and the Shanghai indexes are both up a little under 0.20% on the day, while the Hong Kong Hang Seng index is having a good day, up 0.88% from the day's open. Chinese equities suffered a hesitation after China's CPI figures missed expectations, but markets are remaining on-balance heading towards the day's end.

Broad markets are still holding a tense position on geopolitical concerns, with the US withdrawing from the Iran denuclearization deal earlier this week, and a notable lack of resolution on the US-China trade standoff are contributing to US Treasury yields remaining elevated near the 3% key level, and equities are struggling to develop meaningful risk appetite as traders' hopeful stance that peaceful solutions will arise is butting up against the fact that political turmoil is still making market participants apprehensive. 

Nikkei 225 levels to watch

May is shaping up to be a capped-off month for the equity index, with the Nikkei beginning to show some technical weakness at the month's high of 22,580.00. the 50-day EMA sits nearby, providing support from 22,035.00 while the 200-day SMA is holding at 21,670.00.