Hong Kong Stocks Extend Rally, Shanghai Up

Hong Kong stocks ended Wednesday morning with fresh gains following a strong lead from Wall Street, with energy firms boosted by a rally in oil prices.

The Hang Seng Index climbed 0.5 percent, to 28,717 by the break.

On the mainland, the Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.6 percent to 3,013, and the Shenzhen Composite Index added 0.4 percent to 1,646.

Wellington jumped 1 percent, while Jakarta and Singapore were flat. But Tokyo went into the break 0.6 percent lower, Sydney shed 0.2 percent and Seoul eased 0.1 percent.

Trading remained choppy across the region after a key US gauge raised a red flag warning of recession, adding to Federal Reserve worries about growth, uncertainty over Brexit and China's stuttering economy.

But an Oanda senior market analyst Jeffrey Halley said the reaction to the so-called yield curve inversion – which was last seen ahead of the financial crisis a decade ago – had been "quickly consigned to history".

He added that "the volte-face in sentiment suggests to me that despite all the noise, markets are flip-flopping on short-term data as we await the conclusion of the only real game in town: the US-China trade talks". (AFP)

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