Categories
Economic News

Hong Kong and Japanese shares upward thrust above 1% after Wall Street rally on COVID-19 new variant optimism

Hong Kong and Japanese shares upward thrust above 1% after Wall Street rally on COVID-19 new variant optimism

Stocks in the Asia Pacific region rebounded on Tuesday and recovered from Monday’s losses as Wall Street raised optimism that the risks of Omicron options may not be as severe as they feared. Shares in Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 1.29% as casino and real estate stocks rose. Some tech stocks also rebounded slightly from the previous session. Shares of Tencent rose 1.43% and Alibaba gained more than 8%, down nearly 6% on Monday. Mainland China’s stock was also higher in early trading, up 0.38% in Shanghai and 0.31% in Shenzhen.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 1.39% and Topix rose 1.21%. SoftBank shares rose more than 7°, falling more than 8% on Monday, tracking losses from tech giants Alibaba and Didi.  In Australia, the S&P / ASX 200 rose 0.62%. The Korean KOSPI rose 0.11%.  Excluding Japan, the MSCI, the widest Asia-Pacific index, rose 0.64%.

Evergreened shares are up more than 6% since Monday’s all-time low. On Friday, developers said they could not guarantee they had enough funds to pay off their obligations, and moved to an offshore debt restructuring plan. It said Monday that a risk management committee was being formed to serve to mitigate and eliminate future risks for the company, according to documents filed with the Hong Kong Exchange.

“Another bonus to the improved risk sentiment was the overnight news about China’s easing of policy,” said Rodrigo Catril, senior currency strategist at the National Bank of Australia.  “More important than the RRR announcement is that the decision of the NBK follows a statement by the Communist Party Central Committee that promised to stabilize the economy in 2022,” he said. China’s real estate sector has been hit hard by government efforts to contain debt. Other Hong Kong-listed companies also rose. Sun Hung Kai rose 1.72% and China Vanke rose 2.67%. Sunac stock is up nearly 11%.

U.S. stocks offset losses from the previous week as the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged nearly 650 points on this optimism. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.9% to close at 15,225.15, out of negative territory. The S&P 500 rose 1.1% to 4,591.67. Oil also rose nearly 5% on Monday as concerns over the coronavirus eased. Prices continued to rise during Asian time on Tuesday. U.S. crude rose 1% to $70.17 per barrel, while Brent futures were up 0.77% to $73.64.

The U.S. Dollar Index, which tracks the dollar against its peer’s basket, reached 96.301, up from 96.1 in the previous session. The Japanese Yen is trading at 113.5 per dollar and has been declining since yesterday. The Australian dollar rose from $0.701 to trade at $0.7051.