Off Best Levels

Major Asia-Pac equity indices trade higher at typing but are off their respective best levels, with tailwinds from a BBG report on Thursday (re: potential support for the Chinese economy through frontloading of local government bond issuance) waning. Elsewhere, news of ex-Japanese PM Abe being shot dragged Japanese stocks from session highs after the lunch hour with defensive flows evident, seeing e-minis hit session lows, and the yen turning bid on the news.

• The Nikkei 225 trades 0.7% higher at typing, paring gains of as much as 1.5% on news of Abe’s shooting. Focus has turned to the parsing of the event’s impact re: the policy continuity (as fleshed out previously), with some debate re: the government’s stance towards monetary policy easing and PM Kishida’s stance on taxes and share buyback rules observed.
• The Hang Seng Index sits 0.1% better off at writing, operating around session lows after opening ~1.5% higher. The properties sub-gauge (+0.3%) contributed the most to gains, narrowly countering underperformance in the financials sub-index, while tech names have pared opening gains, with the Hang Seng Tech Index dealing 0.4% firmer at typing (down from +2.2% earlier).
• The ASX200 trades 0.6% firmer at typing, putting it on track for a fourth day of gains in five. Commodity-related stocks outperformed, with the energy sub-index sitting 2.6% better off, rebounding from losses in recent sessions as major crude benchmarks have stabilised.
• U.S. e-minis deal 0.3% - 0.4% worse off at typing, a touch above their respective session lows.