Hong Kong Stocks Climb As Outbreak Fears Ebb

Hong Kong shares posted healthy gains for a second straight day on Tuesday with investors hopeful that the falling rate of infections and deaths in badly hit countries suggests the worst of the coronavirus may have passed.

The Hang Seng Index climbed 1.2 percent, to 24,575.

Across the border, the Shanghai Composite Index eased 0.2 percent, to 2,810, while the Shenzhen Composite Index lost 0.3 percent, to 1,732.

Other stock markets in Asia started weakly but picked up through the day.

Seoul gained 0.6 percent and Taipei put on 0.5 percent. Manila put on more than 2 percent while Jakarta climbed 0.3 percent, Singapore gained 0.2 percent and Mumbai was up 0.8 percent.

Wellington surged more than 3 percent as investors returned from a long weekend when New Zealand declared victory in its battle against the virus and considered lifting restrictions.

But Tokyo and Sydney ended slightly lower.

CMC Markets' Michael Hewson warned that while massive central bank and government support had been providing a boost to stocks, "the economic data has gone from bad to worse and unlikely to get better in the short term, which means that investors appear to be banking on a quick return to normal as governments slowly relax restrictions".

Despite tentative reopenings in some countries, crude continues to be mauled by concerns over collapsed demand and storage facilities filling up.

WTI plunged more than 18 percent below US$11 a barrel, a day after it lost a quarter of its value, after a major exchange-traded fund started selling its short-term contracts of the commodity. (AFP)