Hong Kong Shares Soar As Asian Markets Bounce Back

Hong Kong stocks rallied 3 percent in the morning session on Tuesday, in line with an Asia-wide surge as investors cheered a huge Federal Reserve scheme to protect businesses hit by virus lockdowns.

The Hang Seng Index gained over 7009 points, to 24,478.

On the mainland, the Shanghai Composite Index added 0.9 percent to 2,915 and the Shenzhen Composite Index rallied 0.9 percent to 1,882.

Tokyo and Sydney were each more than 3 percent higher, while Seoul surged more than 4 percent.

Singapore, Manila and Jakarta were all more than 2 percent higher, and Taipei gained 1.7 percent.

"The size and the pace of Fed balance sheet expansion is something that will put a floor under global equity markets," Stephen Gallo, of BMO Capital Markets, told Bloomberg TV.

There remains a sense on unease about signs of a Covid-19 resurgence, with Beijing locking down a number of estates after more than 100 people were diagnosed with the disease, just as the city was getting back on track and after months of no new cases.

But AxiCorp's Stephen Innes pointed out that investors were getting too used to the fact that the disease will not disappear without a vaccine but new clusters could be contained rather than governments shutting down entire economies again.

"While the run of Covid-19 headlines emphasize that a demand recovery is likely to be a slow process, it seems unlikely that we see a return to the lockdown measures" of the first half of the year, he said in a note. (AFP)

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