Hong Kong Leads Recovery As Trade War Fears Ebb

Shares in Hong Kong jumped more than 1 percent in the morning session on Tuesday, as easing concerns about a possible global trade war helped chip away at sharp losses suffered in the previous two days.

The Hang Seng Index rose 1.4 percent, to 30,300 by the break.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.2 percent to 3,263 and the Shenzhen Composite Index, which tracks stocks on the mainland's second exchange, climbed 0.7 percent to 1,843.

Most other markets in Asia gained as the shock of Donald Trump's controversial trade tariffs move last week gave way to hope that any measures will not be as bad as initially thought.

All three main indexes on Wall Street rose between one and 1.4 percent overnight and those gains filtered through to Asia on Tuesday.

Tokyo ended the morning more than two percent higher, while Hong Kong jumped 1.4 percent. Sydney, Seoul, Singapore and Taipei were all more than one percent higher, though Shanghai slipped 0.1 percent.

Attention will now turn to the release on Friday of US jobs and wage growth data, which will give a fresh idea of the state of the world's top economy. (AFP)

______________________________