Japan Outperforms, Hong Kong & China Struggle

A lower degree of political uncertainty and increased scope for the deployment of a notable fiscal package (at least vs. pre-election exp.) in Japan supported local equity markets, which outperformed their major Asia-Pac counterparts in the wake of the weekend's Lower House elections. Elsewhere, soft official PMI data out of China applied pressure to both the Hang Seng & CSI 300, with a net liquidity drain from the PBoC (as it started to unwind its month end provisions) adding further pressure. U.S. e-mini futures have ticked higher, aided by the dynamic in Japan, but sit off the fresh all-time highs registered in the early part of Monday's Asia-Pac session.