HK Shares Post Healthy Gains Thanks To Tech

Hong Kong's benchmark rallied towards the end of Tuesday's session to outperform the region as bargain hunters snapped up heavyweight tech stocks, while other regional markets were mostly higher amid cautious trade ahead of US inflation figures on Wednesday.

The Hang Seng Index swung between gains and losses in the morning after opening in positive territory, with the benchmark losing more than 100 points at one stage. But an upward momentum took hold in the afternoon and the index finished 322 points, or 1.2 percent higher, at 26,605.

Market turnover was HK$160.8 billion.

Major tech shares helped buoy the index. The top blue-chip performer, Meituan, surged 8.4 percent. Tencent jumped 5.3 percent. Xiaomi advanced 2.4 percent. Alibaba rose 2.2 percent.

But Sunny Optical sank 5.6 percent to become the biggest loser on the benchmark, after its July shipment figures disappointed investors.

Shares of China Evergrande and its units soared on reports that the heavily-indebted developer is in talks to sell its stakes in its property management and electric vehicle subsidiaries. China Evergrande rose 7.3 percent. Evergrande Property Services Group rocketed more than 20 percent. China Evergrande New Energy Vehicle Group rallied eight percent.

Across the border, the Shanghai Composite Index added one percent, while the blue-chip CSI300 index put on 1.2 percent. The Shenzhen Composite gained 0.9 percent.

But shares in Taiwan slipped 0.9 percent. South Korea's Kospi shed 0.5 percent. The Nikkei in Japan edged up 0.2 percent. Australia was 0.3 percent firmer. Singapore was about one percent higher.