US PREMARKETS: Equity futures a touch lower ahead of massive US data dump

APAC: Asia-Pac equity indices were mixed following the choppy performance on Wall Street; the RBNZ rate hike, looming FOMC Minutes and packed data schedule for Wednesday added to the tentative mood. Australia's ASX 200 was rangebound, subdued by losses in tech and gold miners which suffered from higher yields; downside was cushioned by strength in financials and energy. Japan'sNikkei 225 was the laggard on return from holiday amid flows into the local currency and reports suggesting that the BoJ was considering tweaking its pandemic relief programme. JGBs opened lower on spill-over selling from global peers but gradually pared some of the losses after rebounding from support at 151.50 and with the BoJ in the market for nearly JPY 1.5tln of JGBs with up to 10yr maturities. China's Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp. swung between gains and losses, with early indecision on tech weakness tech exacerbated by reports that regulators and police had summoned Alibaba (BABA) and Baidu’s (BIDU) cloud units for telecoms network fraud, though the losses for Chinese bourses were eventually reversed amid gains in the energy heavyweights and a mild PBoC liquidity injection; the central bank injected CNY 100bln via 7-day RRPs for a CNY 50bln net injection, and it the set USD/CNY mid-point at 6.3903 (exp. 6.3903, prev. 6.3929).EUROPEAN OPEN: European indices opened flat-to-higher on Wednesday.