Energy Stocks Boost Hong Kong's Recovery

Hong Kong stocks rallied on Wednesday as investors shrugged off Wall Street losses, with energy firms among the big gainers, while traders look ahead to the release of key Federal Reserve minutes later in the day.

The Hang Seng Index jumped 1.8 percent, to close at 31,431.

The index has been chipping away at the more than 9 percent losses during a torrid week earlier in February. It is now just over 3 percent down from the levels touched before that sell-off.

Mainland markets were closed for the Lunar New Year celebrations.

Trading floors have calmed down since the wild volatility that greeted the start of February, which was caused by concerns about the impact of higher US interest rates and Treasury bond yields.

While New York's three main indexes ended in negative territory on Tuesday, Asian dealers were in upbeat mood, helping the dollar recover from recent losses against the yen, euro and pound.

Tokyo stocks inched up as market sentiment revived moderately thanks to a weaker yen against the US dollar. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index rose 0.2 percent to close at 21,970.

Sydney gained 0.1 percent, Singapore put on 1.1 percent and Seoul was up 0.6 percent. Wellington climbed 1.3 percent and Taipei returned from a week-long Lunar New Year break to jump 2.8 percent. (AFP)