It was a tepid session for the major.........>

STOCKS: It was a tepid session for the major Asia-Pacific equity indices, with

Japan closed for a market holiday and several holiday shortened sessions in

play.

- The major regional indices traded in mixed fashion on the back of the weekend

news flow, including chatter of Trump wanting to remove Fed Chair Powell

(subsequently played down by U.S. admin) & U.S. Tsy Sec Mnuchin "liquidity

checking" the largest U.S. banks via phone calls.

- Weekend rhetoric out of China re: U.S. trade matters, pointed to further

positive developments, in spite of cautious comments from U.S. trade hawk Peter

Navarro to the Nikkei late on Friday.

- The ASX 200 closed 0.48% higher, the Hang Seng struggled, finishing ~0.4%

worse off, as HK's Chen suggested that there will be fewer sweeteners in the

FY19/20 budget, while China's CSI 300 traded ~0.1% higher in the morning

session.

- U.S. index futures trade higher at writing, shrugging off the aforementioned

U.S.-centric developments, as well as the ongoing U.S. gov't shutdown.