SINGAPORE — Asia-Pacific stocks were higher in Tuesday’s trading as Hong Kong stocks led gains regionally.
The Hang Seng index rose 2.23% through Tuesday afternoon in the city as Chinese tech stocks soared. Tencent rose 3.26%, while Alibaba rose 5.38% and Meituan added 3.79%. The Hang Seng Tech Index rose 4.24%.
Mainland China stocks edged higher, with the Shanghai Composite up 0.29% while the Shenzhen Component added 0.726%.
As is often the case in stock markets, when the news just looks like it can’t get any worse, market participants begin to see less bad than the new good.
David Wang
Senior Investment Strategist, AllianceBernstein
Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.3%, while the Topix index traded 0.19% higher.
South Korea’s Kospi was up 0.78%, while the S&P/ASX 200 in Australia was up 0.21%.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia Pacific stocks outside of Japan traded 1.4% higher.
“As is often the case with stock markets, when the news just looks like it can’t get any worse, then market participants see less bad than the new good,” David Wong, senior investment strategist at AllianceBernstein, told CNBC ” Street Signs Asia” on Tuesday.
“If we look at China, the fundamentals have been so bad and there has been so much bad news that I think sentiment is growing that there will be more political support for the economy, for companies and for the markets,” Wang said.
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RBA meeting minutes released
The Reserve Bank of Australia could raise interest rates further to ensure inflation in the country “returns to target over time”. Minutes of the central bank’s May meeting showed on Tuesday. The country had announced its first rate hike in more than a decade.
“Inflation was now above target and was not forecast to return to target by mid to late 2024,” the minutes read. “While the sharp increase in inflation was largely the result of global factors that would likely have a more temporary impact on inflation, the flow of information on inflation and wages over the previous month was consistent with more sustained inflationary pressures stemming from limited spare capacity in the domestic economy Business.”
Currencies and Oil
The US Dollar Index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, came in at 104.18 – below levels above 104.5 recorded recently.
The Japanese yen traded at 129.34 per dollar, stronger from levels above 130 recorded against the greenback last week. The Australian dollar was at $0.6997 after recently rising from below $0.693.
Oil prices were lower in the afternoon of the Asian session, with international benchmark Brent crude futures falling 0.36% to $113.83 a barrel. US crude oil futures lost 0.46% to $113.68 a barrel.