HK Shares Snap Two-day Losing Streak

Local shares rallied on Wednesday as optimism towards a US stimulus plan spilled over from Wall Street to the region.

After suffering losses in the past two days, the Hang Sang Index started the day on a positive note.

It surged more than 360 points at one stage, before giving up some of the gains and finishing 198 points or three-quarters of a percent higher, at 26,502.

Turnover reached HK$136.6 billion.

Smartphone maker Xiaomi continued to soar, rising more than 4 percent and was the top blue-chip gainer of the day.

Financials also did well. AIA was up 2.2 percent and HSBC put on nearly 1 percent.

But markets across the border were dragged down after consumer price deflation was reported on the mainland for the first time in more than a decade. The Shanghai Composite Index lost 1.1 percent while the blue-chip CSI300 index gave up 1.3 percent. The Shenzhen Composite shed 1.9 percent.

Elsewhere, the Nikkei in Japan gained 1.3 percent. Seoul’s Kospi jumped 2 percent. Taiwan inched up 0.2 percent. Singapore and Australia were also in positive territory.