Asia Pac Shares Tracking Higher

Regional equities are higher across the board, taking a positive cue from US market gains on Monday. Most markets are seeing gains of less than 1% (although the Kospi sits +1.15% higher). US equity futures are down a touch in the first part of Tuesday trade, but losses are modest and haven't impacted broader risk appetite. Eminis were last near 4396, down 0.11%, while Nasdaq futures are off by a similar amount.

• US President Biden will travel to Israel on Wednesday as part of a broader trip to the Middle East to show both support to Israel but also prevent the conflict from broadening (see this BBG link).
• Lack of escalation in the conflict over the past week has been a factor cited as aiding risk appetite in recent sessions. US yields continue to recover ground, but this isn't meaningfully impacting the equity space yet.
• At the break, the HSI is up 0.70%, while the CSI 300 has firmed 0.46%. China state owned companies have revealed plans to buy back shares late on Monday (see this link). This is a positive, although the CSI 300 is only modestly above recent cyclical lows. Tomorrow, we get Q3 GDP data and September activity figures.
• Japan's Topix is up 0.60%, while the Nikkei 225 has firmed 1.0%. The South Korean Kospi is outperforming, up 1.15%. Samsung shares have outperformed.
• In SEA, most indices are higher, but Philippine shares are the standout, up a little over 1% at this stage.