Hang Seng index rose 2.15%, with shares of Chinese tech firms jumping
Asia-Pacific shares advanced in Tuesday trade, after the Nasdaq Composite closed at a record high, after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) full approval of Pfizer and BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccine.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose 2.15% during its final hour of trading, with shares of Chinese tech firms listed in the city jumping: Tencent added 7.84% while Meituan surged more than 12% and Alibaba gained 8.09%. The Hang Seng Tech index added 6.5%.
Meanwhile, automaker BYD’s semiconductor business was among 40 IPOs which were suspended as China’s bourses investigate intermediaries in those deals. Still, shares of BYD in Hong Kong were rose more than 1% in Tuesday afternoon trade.
Mainland Chinese stocks ended higher as the Shanghai composite added 1.07% to 3,514.47 while the Shenzhen component gained 0.878% to 14,663.55.
Reuters reported that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has began issuing new disclosure requirements to Chinese firms looking to list in New York, as part of a push to raise investor awareness of the risks involved.
The Nikkei 225 in Japan advanced 0.87% to end at 27,732.10, as shares of conglomerate Softbank Group soared nearly 2%. The Topix index gained 1% to close the trading day at 1,934.20. South Korea’s Kospi climbed 1.56% to end at 3,138.30.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.17% on the day to 7,503.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan advanced 1.65%.
Overnight on Wall Street, the Nasdaq Composite climbed 1.55% to 14,942.65 — a record closing high. The S&P 500 gained 0.85% to 4,479.53 while the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) added 215.63 points to 35,335.71.
Those gains came as Pfizer and BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccine became the first in the U.S. to be granted full approval by the FDA, paving the way for more vaccine mandates.
