Strong buying on the Hong Kong stock exchange, which continues to benefit from news of the easing of anti-Covid restrictions in China. The Hang Seng index jumps more than 3% in the wake of the buys flocking to Chinese Big Tech. The Hang Seng Tech Index sub-index rallied around 5%.
In particular, the shares of the companies that would benefit most from a reopening of the economy after the spread of rumors, according to which the city of Hong Kong is considering the option to cancel the obligation to wear masks outdoors, are on the rise.
Boom in casino operator stocks such as Wynn Macau, which soar more than 16%; MGM China jumps 10%, Sands China jumps 7%, Galaxy Entertainment is up about 5%.
The Nikkei 225 index of the Tokyo Stock Exchange closed down by 0.40%, after the publication of data relating to Japan’s GDP which, in the third quarter, contracted by 0.8% on an annualized basis.
However, GDP beat analysts’ expectations, which were for a greater contraction of 1.1%. The figure was also revised upwards, given that the preliminary estimate released in November referred to a drop of 1.2%.
Weak closing yesterday for Wall Street, with the Dow Jones practically flat, up by just 1.58 points; the S&P 500 fell for the fifth consecutive session, suffering a decline of 0.19%; the Nasdaq lost 0.51%. US futures are currently slow moving.
With regard to the other stock exchanges in the Asia Pacific area, the Shanghai stock exchange falls by 0.10%, Seoul falls by 0.49%, Sydney down by 0.75%.
Fears of a global recession still dominate global equity markets due to aggressive central bank monetary tightening.
In a speech last week, Federal Reserve number one Jerome Powell endorsed market speculation, which was betting and is now betting more strongly on a 50 basis point lower monetary tightening in December than four consecutive maxi rate hikes of 75 basis points, which brought the cost of money in the States to a record since 2008, i.e. to a range between 3.75% and 4%.
The FOMC (the monetary policy arm of the Federal Reserve) will meet on December 13th and 14th.