HSI Ends With A Gain Despite Covid Case Spike In HK

Hong Kong stocks finished on Monday on a positive note as hopes for a virus vaccine overshadowed concerns about a fresh wave of infections in the financial hub.

The Hang Seng Index added 0.2 percent, to 25,772.

On the mainland, the Shanghai Composite Index climbed 1.8 percent, to 3,443 while the Shenzhen Composite Index jumped 3.5 percent, to 2,329.

Elsewhere in the region, Tokyo led the gains, adding more than 2 percent, while Seoul and Taipei were each more than 1 percent higher.

Sydney climbed 1 percent, with Mumbai 0.3 percent higher. Wellington and Jakarta also rose but Singapore and Manila fell.

The pandemic's rapid spread around the planet remains a concern. Hong Kong, which had gone weeks with no locally spread cases, is seeing a worrying spike in infections and two US Marine bases in Okinawa in Japan have been put into lockdown after dozens of infections.

But analysts said they were confident the global economy, which is expected to fall into recession this year, and markets will continue to recover.

"We do think that the global economy is now entering a multi-year recovery but there are going to be wobbles along the way," Mary Nicola, at PineBridge Investments, told Bloomberg TV.

"Governments and the central banks have deployed a lot of measures and will keep doing so until we get to the other side of this."

And AxiCorp's Stephen Innes added that equities would likely soar once a vaccine was eventually found.

"Once the vaccine is made readily available, all systems go, and the incomprehensibly large global stimulus will find its way into every liquid asset imaginable," he said in a note. (AFP)