Asia markets climb as investors assess assassination attempt on Trump, await China Third Plenum

Asia-Pacific markets climbed on Monday as investors awaited China’s Third Plenum and also assessed an assassination attempt on former U.S. President Donald Trump at a rally over the weekend.

David Roche, president of Quantum Strategy, said in a note on Sunday that Trump would win the presidency, with an increased probability of a Republican clean sweep of both the House of Representatives and the Senate.

Separately, China’s top leaders will gather this week for a highly anticipated meeting known as the Third Plenum, with analysts expecting the gathering to focus on areas such as high local government debt levels and a push for advanced manufacturing, instead of the country’s real estate sector.

Key China economic data will be released on Monday, including the country’s second quarter GDP numbers. China’s economy is expected to expand 5.1% year on year, according to a Reuters poll of economists, compared to 5.3% in the first quarter.

Japan’s markets are closed for a public holiday.

South Korea’s Kospi was 0.44% higher, while the small-cap Kosdaq rose 0.22%.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.78%, on pace for a third straight day of gains and hitting a fresh all-time high.

Hong Kong Hang Seng index futures were at 18,265, lower than the HSI’s last close of 18,293.38.

U.S. market futures were marginally up late Sunday night, with futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average higher by 0.11%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq saw gains of about 0.1%.

—CNBC’s Yun Li contributed to this report.