MSP430FR2433: Timer debugging by using EEM and Clock Control

Hello,

I am trying to validate Timer2_A2 settings via EEM and Clock Control features, available through the MSP-FET debugger.
EEM Version S should provide Extended Clock Control on Modules. So I enabled it in the debugger session for all Timers.

When debugging the following instructions (with a breakpoint just after the third instruction and the code running in FRAM with NWAITS = 0),

            mov.w   #TASSEL__ACLK|MC__CONTINOUS|ID__1|TACLR,&TA2CTL
            nop
            mov   &TA2R,R12

with:

DCO frequency = 8MHz
MCLK = 4MHz
ACLK = 32kHz

I find largely different values between R12 and TA2R (shown in the Timer2_A2 group window), slightly varying every time I repeat the same test. For example:

- test 1: R12 = 0x0056C, TA2R = 0x3455
- test 2: R12 = 0x00547, TA2R = 0x360A
- test 3: R12 = 0x00581, TA2R = 0x33FD

Every other interrupt is disabled. So my questions are:

a. Why R12 and TA2R values differ so much?
b. A 'nop' instruction executes in only 3 MCLK cycles, so why TA2R (triggered by the much slower ACLK) is not zero after a single 'nop'?

Thanks in advance for any clarification.

Regards,

Mauro