SINGAPORE — Shares in Asia-Pacific were higher in Tuesday trade as Hong Kong stocks led gains regionally.
The Hang Seng index surged 2.23% by Tuesday afternoon in the city as Chinese tech stocks jumped. Tencent rose 3.26% while Alibaba soared 5.38% and Meituan gained 3.79%. The Hang Seng Tech index climbed 4.24%.
Mainland Chinese stocks edged higher, with the Shanghai Composite up 0.29% while the Shenzhen Component rose 0.726%.
As is often the case with equity markets, when the news simply looks like it can’t get any worse, that is when market participants start seeing less bad as the new good.
David Wong
senior investment strategist, AllianceBernstein
The Nikkei 225 in Japan climbed 0.3% while the Topix index traded 0.19% higher.
South Korea’s Kospi gained 0.78% while the S&P/ASX 200 in Australia advanced 0.21%.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan traded 1.4% higher.
“As is often the case with equity markets, when the news simply looks like it can’t get any worse, that is when market participants start seeing less bad as the new good,” David Wong, senior investment strategist at AllianceBernstein, told CNBC’s “Street Signs Asia” on Tuesday.
“When we’re looking at China, the fundamental data has been so poor and there has been so much bad news that there is I think a growing sentiment that there is going to be more policy support for the economy, for companies and for markets,” Wong said.
RBA meeting minutes released
The Reserve Bank of Australia could further increase interest rates to ensure that inflation in the country “returns to the target over time,.” minutes from the central bank’s May meeting showed Tuesday. The country had announced its first rate hike in more than a decade.
“Inflation was now above the target and was not forecast to return to the target range until mid-to-late 2024,” the minutes said. “While the significant rise in inflation had been largely the result of global factors, which were likely to have a more temporary effect on inflation, the flow of information on inflation and wages over the preceding month had been consistent with more persistent inflationary pressures arising from limited spare capacity in the domestic economy.”
Currencies and oil
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 104.18 — off levels above 104.5 seen recently.
The Japanese yen traded at 129.34 per dollar, stronger as compared with levels above 130 seen against the greenback last week. The Australian dollar was at $0.6997 following a recent bounce from below $0.693.
Oil prices were lower in the afternoon of Asia trading hours, with international benchmark Brent crude futures down 0.36% to $113.83 per barrel. U.S. crude futures shed 0.46% to $113.68 per barrel.
