HK Shares Follow Wall Street's Lead, Rise 5%

Hong Kong’s share benchmark soared more than 5% on Wednesday as Asian shares tracked gains on Wall Street, Yuri Kageyama reported for the Associated Press (AP) on Oct. 5, 2022.

Photo Insert: The HKEX ticker

New Zealand’s share benchmark rose 0.7% after its central bank hiked its benchmark interest rate to 3.5%, saying inflation remained too high and labor scarce. The half-point rate hike was the fifth in a row made by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand since February.

Statistics New Zealand said inflation was running at 7.3% and unemployment at 3.3%. The rate hike came on the same day the government announced its finances were in better shape than forecast.

The Hang Seng in Hong Kong rose 5.3% to 17,988.86, catching up with gains elsewhere as markets reopened following a holiday Tuesday. Markets in mainland China remained closed for a holiday. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 added 0.3% in morning trading to 27,079.49.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 added 1.5% to 6,797.80. Shares in Australia got a boost after the Reserve Bank of Australia ordered a smaller-than-expected 25 basis points interest rate hike on Tuesday. South Korea’s Kospi added 0.6% in morning trading to 2,221.43.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed more 2.8% to 30,316.32. The S&P 500 had its best day since May 2020 on Tuesday as the market clawed back more of the ground it lost over the past miserable several weeks. It surged 3.1% to 3,790.93.

Twitter surged 22.2% after Elon Musk said he would go ahead with his $44 billion acquisition of the social media company, abandoning efforts to get out of the deal.

The Nasdaq composite climbed 3.3% to 11,176.41. Small company stocks also made solid gains, lifting the Russell 2000 advanced 3.9% to 1,775.77, Damian J. Troise, Alex Veiga and Nick Perry also reported for AP.

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