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SINGAPORE — Asia-Pacific shares traded higher on Thursday following the rally on Wall Street and as investors move on from the tensions over US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s controversial visit to Taiwan.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index jumped more than 2% earlier in the session and was last up 1.19%.
The Hang Seng Tech index rose 1.98%, with shares of Alibaba popping around 4% ahead of its earnings results later Thursday.
The Chinese e-commerce giant could see revenue decline for the first time on record, according to analysts’ average forecast on Refinitiv. But that could be the floor for Alibaba as revenue is expected to improve going forward.
Meituan shares also rose around 2.88%, while JD.com gained 4.12%.
Pelosi met with Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen on Wednesday amid warnings from Beijing. Pelosi has since left the self-ruled island that China views as a runaway province to continue with her Asia tour.
Historically, markets tend to move on quite quickly from events such as these, and you can see that today the markets have already started to rebound quite strongly.
Vey-Sern Ling
Managing director, UBP
Mainland China markets fell for two straight sessions, but rose on Thursday. The Shanghai Composite added 0.62% and the Shenzhen Component climbed 0.63%.
“Historically, markets tend to move on quite quickly from events such as these, and you can see that today the markets have already started to rebound quite strongly,” Vey-Sern Ling, a managing director at UBP, told CNBC’s “Street Signs Asia ” on Thursday.
Despite geopolitical risks, delisting concerns in the US and potential Covid flare ups, there are many catalysts in the China market, Ling said. He pointed to well-controlled inflation and possible consumption recovery as examples.
Elsewhere in Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.54%, while the Topix index was flat.
The Kospi in South Korea gained 0.44% and the Kosdaq advanced 1.11%.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.18%.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside of China was 0.73% higher.
DBS, Singapore’s largest bank, reported a net profit of 1.82 billion Singapore dollars ($1.32 billion), the second highest in history, the bank said in a press release. That’s higher than the average forecast of 1.7 billion Singapore dollars, according to data from Refinitiv.
The bank’s shares fell 1.05%, while the broader index was about flat.
A Reuters report citing a single source said the world’s largest battery maker, CATL, will continue working towards delivering lower-cost lithium iron batteries to Ford Motor. CATL will also produce batteries in North America by 2026, the Wednesday report said.
Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday that CATL was delaying its decision on a North American plant.
CATL shares slipped 0.66% on Thursday.
Overnight in the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 each gained more than 1%, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 2.59%, pulled higher by tech stocks.
A better-than-expected services PMI reading for July gave investors confidence amid concerns about a US recession.
Currencies and oil
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 106.376, higher than earlier this week.
The Japanese yen traded at 133.75 per dollar, weaker than levels seen earlier this week. The Australian dollar was at $0.6949.
Oil futures inched up on Thursday after Brent settled 3.7% lower and US crude fell 4% on Wednesday following US data that showed crude and gasoline stockpiles rose unexpectedly.
US crude rose 0.43% to $91.05 per barrel, while Brent crude gained 0.38% to $97.15 per barrel.
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