SINGAPORE, Oct 30 (Reuters) - Asia shares eased on

Wednesday on the back of weakness in China, as investors brace

for a tightly contested U.S. election that could have huge

ramifications for the world's second-largest economy, even as

Beijing tries to shore up growth.

Gold rose to an all-time high as jitters over the

close U.S. presidential race supported the yellow metal, while

bitcoin also flirted with a record peak as markets weigh

the prospect of a victory by Republican candidate Donald Trump.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan

fell 0.22% in early trade, tracking a decline in

Chinese assets.

The CSI300 blue-chip index fell 0.16%, while Hong

Kong's Hang Seng Index slid 0.64%.

The moves came even as Reuters reported on Tuesday that

China is considering approving next week the issuance of more

than 10 trillion yuan ($1.4 trillion) in extra debt in the next

few years to revive its fragile economy.

"China's latest stimulus package appears underwhelming, with

60% allocated to local government debt relief," said Saxo's

chief investment strategist Charu Chanana.

"While there's a stronger focus on supporting the property

sector, urgency around broader structural issues - such as debt,

deflation, and demographics - remains limited.

"Equity support could offer some lift to domestic

confidence, but foreign investors are still highly concerned

about potential tariff threats if next week's U.S. elections

result in a Republican sweep."

China's new energy vehicles index ticked up

0.2%, largely unfazed by news that the European Union has

decided to increase tariffs on Chinese-built electric vehicles

to as much as 45.3%.

Meanwhile, U.S. stock futures ticked higher, buoyed by a

solid result from Google-parent Alphabet, which

reported quarterly revenue that beat estimates.

Nasdaq futures gained 0.42%, while S&P 500 futures

rose 0.36%.

Meta Platforms ( META ) and Microsoft ( MSFT ) report their

earnings later in the day, followed by Apple ( AAPL ) and

Amazon.com ( AMZN ) on Thursday.

Investors will be closely watching the results to determine

whether Wall Street can sustain the optimism around technology

and artificial intelligence that has lifted indexes to record

highs this year.

Elsewhere, Japan's Nikkei rose nearly 1%, riding on

the momentum of a weaker yen.

U.S. FOCUS

Bitcoin stood just a whisker away from its peak of

$73,803.25 and last bought $72,322.08, on track to gain 13% for

the month.

The world's largest cryptocurrency has been bolstered by the

growing possibility of Trump's return to the White House, as he

is seen taking a more favourable stance towards digital assets.

"Bitcoin's strength should persist if the odds for a

Republican sweep continue to grow, as a less likely Democratic

sweep might meet a generalised sell-off," said Manuel Villegas,

digital assets analyst at Julius Baer.

On the economic front, investors were also bracing for a

slew of U.S. data this week that could guide the outlook for Fed

policy.

The ADP National Employment Report is due later in the day

alongside advance third quarter GDP estimates, which will come

ahead of Friday's nonfarm payrolls figures.

Data on Tuesday showed U.S. job openings dropped to more

than a 3-1/2-year low in September, though that was countered by

a separate survey which showed consumer confidence increased to

a nine-month high in October amid improved perceptions of the

labour market.

"The U.S. data is still important for this week, there's no

doubt about it," said Khoon Goh, head of Asia research at ANZ.

"We saw the JOLTS data out last night, it showed continued

moderation of the labour market ... Today we have ADP, Q3 GDP,

PCE deflator tomorrow and then payrolls Friday. So that will

still be really important, particularly for the long-end yields

and the impact on the dollar."

The dollar strayed not too far from a three-month high

against a basket of currencies on Wednesday, though a

stall in its recent rally gave sterling some respite

above the $1.30 level.

The yen languished near a three-month low as it

continued to feel the pressure from the loss of a parliamentary

majority for Japan's ruling coalition in weekend elections.

The Aussie was little changed in the wake of

domestic inflation data and last rose 0.15% to $0.6570.

In commodities, Brent crude futures ticked up 0.42%

to $71.42 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude

futures rose 0.45% to $67.51 per barrel.

Spot gold was last 0.18% higher at $2,779.81 an

ounce, after having peaked at $2,781.69 earlier in the session.