There was a more than 1% gain in Hong stocks on Tuesday, as Asian markets mostly recorded gains with the gross domestic product data in South Korea beating estimates. Stocks in mainland China also recorded gains. There was a 0.83% gain in the Shanghai Composite, which took it to 3,277.4, while a rise of 0.95% was seen in the Shenzhen Component which saw it close at 12,408.56.
Hong Kong markets
There was a 1.67% gain in the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong, which closed at 20,905.88, as heavyweight Alibaba recorded gains of 4.82%. This was after the company’s announcement that it would apply for a primary listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The company’s shares are already listed in the Hong Kong market.
If the company manages to complete the primary listing, it would then become dual primary listed in New York and Hong Kong. It is expected to complete this process by the end of this year.
South Korea’s GDP
The Bank of Korea released estimates, which showed that there was a 0.7% growth in the second quarter of the South Korean economy as opposed to the first quarter. Meanwhile, analysts had expected this growth to be around 0.4%. There had been a 0.6% growth in the country’s GDP in the quarter from January to March.
Market analysts said that these numbers provide the Bank of Korea with more room to pursue its priority of quelling inflation in the country through its policy before they have to worry about growth. The South Korean Kospi recovered its losses to record gains of 0.39% to reach 2,412.96, while there was a fractional gain in the Kosdaq index that took it to 789.93.
Elsewhere in the region, there was a 0.26% increase in the Australian S&P/ASX 200 index, which led it to 6,807.3. The Nikkei 225 index in Japan bucked the trend and recorded a fall of 0.16% which brought it down to 27,655.21. As for the Topix index, it closed flat for the day at 1,943.17. There was also a 0.48% gain recorded in the MSCI’s index of Asia-Pacific shares with the exception of Japan.
Bank of Japan’s meeting
On Tuesday, the Bank of Japan released the minutes of its policy meeting in which it had chosen to continue with its ultra-easy monetary policy and keep interest rates low. According to members of the board, the Japanese economy was recovering from the impact of COVID-19, but it still required financial support because of pressure from the increase in commodity prices.
The minutes said that policymakers also wanted to focus on the developments in foreign exchange and financial markets because they would impact the prices and economic activity in Japan. There has been a decline recorded in Japanese yen, as the monetary policy of the country is opposite of the US Fed and most of the developed economies.
However, the Japanese currency was stronger against the US dollar at 136.62, as opposed to levels recorded in the previous week.