HK Shares Gain Ground On Vaccine Hopes

Hong Kong stocks finished higher on Tuesday fuelled by hopes of a possible coronavirus vaccine.

The Hang Seng Index had surged almost 500 points during trading. It later pared the gains to close 283 points or 1.1 percent higher at 26,301.

Market turnover was a hefty HK$233 billion.

The top gainer on the benchmark index was oil giant CNOOC, jumping close to 14 percent. That came after oil prices rose over hopes that an effective Covid-19 vaccine would offset fears that fuel demand is expected to weaken in the short term in Europe and the United States.

Tech giant Tencent lost more than 4 percent, even though analysts are forecasting a 30 percent growth in third-quarter profit ahead of its announcement on Thursday.

Markets across the border ended in the red after new data showed inflation on the mainland eased to an 11-year low.

The Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.4 percent while the blue-chip CSI-300 index shed 0.5 percent.

Across the region, Tokyo gained 0.3 percent over optimism about the coronavirus vaccine development.

Seoul finished higher for the seventh straight day, putting on 0.3 percent as well.

Singapore also reported healthy gains, but Taipei lost 0.4 percent.