By Asian shares bounced off onemonth lows on Monday helped by Chinese factory activity expanding at its fastest pace in a decade, while oil prices skidded as many Western countries slid back into coronavirusdriven lockdowns.
A major risk event this week is the U.S. presidential elections on Tuesday with Republican President Donald Trump trailing Democratic challenger Joe Biden in national opinion polls.
Polls in the most competitive states that will decide the election have, however, shown a closer race, still favouring Biden.
MSCI39;s broadest index of AsiaPacific shares outside Japan climbed 0.36, as China39;s CaixinMarkit Manufacturing Purchasing Managers39; Index offered hope the region39;s success in containing the coronavirus could spare it the economic pain being inflicted on Europe and the United States.
The mood in Europe was downbeat with many countries in the region battling new COVID19 infections and slipping back into virus lockdowns.
In early European trades, panregion Euro Stoxx 50 futures were down 0.1, German DAX futures were flat and London39;s FTSE futures were off 0.4.
In Asia, on the other hand, all major indexes except New Zealand were up on Monday.
Australian shares rose 0.4.
Chinese shares were higher with the bluechip CSI300 rising 0.3 with the country39;s vast industrial sector steadily returning to levels seen before the COVID19 pandemic paralysed huge swathes of the economy.
Japan39;s Nikkei jumped 1.4.
EMini futures for the SP 500 added…
