By Rae Wee
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Asia shares dipped in and out of positive territory on Monday, under pressure from weakness in Hong Kong stocks, but bitcoin scaled a three-month peak as "Trump trades" continued to ramp up.
Gold hit another record high, as global uncertainty over conflict in the Middle East and an extremely close U.S. presidential election boosted bullion's appeal.
Optimism over Beijing's slew of stimulus measures first announced late in September has turned into caution in recent days as investors look to further details of more fiscal support from policymakers.
Though China cut its benchmark lending rates on Monday, the move was anticipated.
China's blue-chip index swung between losses and gains in early trade, before turning decisively higher by the Asian afternoon, helped by a rise in technology companies. The benchmark was 0.4% higher, while the Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.31%.
The Beijing Stock Exchange 50 Index jumped 14% to a record high, after the bourse said on Sunday it would help small- and medium-sized tech companies with training and access to finance so they can list.
That failed to excite Hong Kong markets, however, where stocks fell more than 1%, pushing MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan down 0.26%, a step back in sentiment after U.S. stocks posted a sixth straight week of gains on Friday.
Japan's Nikkei rose 0.12%.
Further details on Chinese stimulus might take some time to emerge.
"We might have to wait until late October or early November for concrete plans from the Standing Committee meeting of the National People's Congress," said Chaoping Zhu, global market strategist at J.P. Morgan Asset Management in Shanghai.
Stock futures pointed to a mixed opening in Europe, with EUROSTOXX 50 futures losing 0.1%, while FTSE futures ticked up 0.17%.
Nasdaq futures eased 0.08%. S&P 500 futures were flat.
U.S. ELECTION
With just about two weeks to go before the Nov. 5 U.S. election, bets reflecting a Donald Trump victory are on the rise across parts of the market.
The Republican candidate's tariff, tax and immigration policies are seen as inflationary, and thus negative for bonds and positive for the dollar. He is also seen as taking a more favourable stance towards cryptocurrencies.
"(It) seems now that Trump's ahead in the key battleground states, which suggests he's quite well placed to regain the White House and I think the markets started to factor that in last week with the stronger equities, higher yields, U.S. dollar obviously doing very, very well and bitcoin on track for a 10% gain over the past week," said Tony Sycamore, a market analyst at IG.
Bitcoin was last 0.5% higher at $69,080.72, after having touched its strongest level since July at $69,487 earlier in the session. The world's largest cryptocurrency gained 9.6% last week, and is up more than 8% for the month thus far.
"Things look pretty good for bitcoin right here. I think it can continue higher," said Sycamore.
The dollar hovered not too far from a high of more than two months against a basket of currencies on Monday, with the dollar index last at 103.49.
Sterling dipped 0.05% to $1.3041, while the euro fell 0.06% to $1.0861.
In the bond market, the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury yield last stood at 4.0809%, while the two-year yield was little changed at 3.9531%. [US/]
Spot gold peaked at a record of $2,732.73 an ounce, extending its rally after having gained more than 2% last week.
"One of the clearest Trump trades so far has been gold, given his belligerent stance on trade and willingness to weaponise the dollar, keeping demand for diversification well supported among emerging central banks," said Arun Sai, senior multi asset strategist at Pictet Asset Management.
Oil prices ticked higher on Monday, nursing a steep fall from last week. [O/R]
Brent crude futures were last 0.6% higher at $73.49 a barrel, while U.S. crude rose 0.7% to $69.70 per barrel.