In afternoon trade, the Hang Seng index rose 1.88% as shares of Tencent surged 2.85%
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index led gains among the major Asia-Pacific markets on Monday as Chinese tech stocks in the city jumped.
In afternoon trade, the Hang Seng index rose 1.88% as shares of Tencent surged 2.85%. Other Chinese tech stocks also gained, with Alibaba up 3.46% while NetEase soared 6.14%.
Investor sentiment may have been buoyed by a recent signal by Chinese authorities of progress toward resolving an audit dispute that’s threatened U.S.-listed Chinese firms with delisting.
Meanwhile, the city’s chief executive Carrie Lam announced Monday she will not be pursuing a second term in office.
Markets in mainland China are closed on Monday and Tuesday this week for holidays.
The Nikkei 225 in Japan swung between positive and negative territory, last rising 0.14% as shares of conglomerate SoftBank Group gained more than 3%. The Topix index jumped 0.41%.
South Korea’s Kospi jumped 0.59%. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.39%.
Over in Sri Lanka, trading at the Colombo Stock Exchange was paused for a second time on Monday after the S&P SL20 index dropped more than 7.5% from its last close. Trading at the exchange will be halted for the day if the benchmark index falls more than 10%.
Sri Lanka’s central bank governor announced in a Monday tweet that he had submitted his resignation to the country’s president. The country’s Youth and Sports Minister Namal Rajapaksa also announced his resignation on Twitter.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan traded 0.97% higher.
A closely watched part of U.S. Treasury yields inverted on Friday as short-term rates jumped following the release of jobs data stateside, raising concerns over a potential recession on the horizon.
The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield last sat at 2.4153%, while the rate on the 2-year Treasury note was at 2.481%. Yields move inversely to prices, with 1 basis point equal to 0.01%.
