Mixed, China Benefits From Increased Odds Re: Targeted PBoC Easing

U.S. e-mini futures added ~0.3% in the first Asia-Pac session of the week, while the major regional equity indices lacked a sense of coherence, dealing either side of unchanged at typing. The latter generally struggled to lodge anything in the way of sustained upward pressure in the wake of the COVID-related headwinds that hampered European equities on Friday. Meanwhile, some pointed to increased odds of targeted PBoC easing in the early part of '22 (on the back of language tweaks in the latest PBoC quarterly monetary policy report, released at the tail end of last week) as the supportive factor for mainland Chinese equities, which bucked the broader negative regional trend, recording modest gains in the process.