Asian equities are buoyed by US stimulus hopes, with Japanese stocks helped by stronger corporate earnings and also a report suggesting that state of emergency measures may be lifted in Japan after a new law has been passed.

The latter sees Japan pass a law allowing for fines against social distancing violators and that may allow local governments to curb the virus spread without the need for prefecture-wide restrictions as we are seeing now.

Elsewhere, the Hang Seng is up 0.3% and the Shanghai Composite is up 1.0% going into the closing stages. S&P 500 futures are up 0.4% currently.