Hong Kong stocks extend gains on Trip.com's record run while Alibaba, SMIC lead tech rally on Nvidia boost

Hong Kong stocks extended a rally that lifted the city's benchmark index to the highest level in seven weeks, as post-Covid earnings at travel platform operator Trip.com Group sent its shares to an all-time high. Tech leaders advanced, buoyed by Nvidia's bullish revenue forecast.

The Hang Seng Index jumped 1.5 per cent to 16,742.95 on Thursday to a level not seen since January 2, while the Tech Index surged 1.8 per cent. The Shanghai Composite Index climbed 1.3 per cent and the CSI 300 climbed for an eighth straight day to cap its longest winning run since July 2020.

Trip.com surged 7.2 per cent to a record HK$355.20 after fourth-quarter revenue beat expectations as demand for travel approached levels seen in 2019 before the pandemic. Alibaba Group strengthened 2.4 per cent to HK$74.65 and Tencent added 0.7 per cent to HK$290.80, while China's largest chip maker SMIC gained 0.8 per cent to HK$15.16. Nvidia's forecast for a threefold surge in quarterly revenue brightened tech outlook.

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"Overseas tourism remains a bright spot as Chinese tourists still travel [widely]," said Vivian Lin Thurston, a portfolio manager at William Blair Investment Management. The travel industry is likely to see further recovery this year just from the base effect, she added.

The Hang Seng Index was headed a third weekly advance, having already risen 2.5 per cent since Friday. Beijing's recent market measures, including "national team" buying, lending rate cut, liquidity injection, and regulatory measures to curb short-selling, have helped put a floor under the four-year stock slump in Hong Kong.

Mainland investors bought a net HK$4.8 billion (US$611 million) of Hong Kong shares on Thursday, the sixth consecutive day of net buying, according to Stock Connect data.

China holds its annual parliamentary meetings or 'two sessions' in March, where the two main bodies - the National People's Congress and the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference - when markets typically bet on policy tonic for the economy.

While policy support may help consolidate the market bottoms, weak business fundamentals and a lack of new capital indicate that a stock market recovery is not likely to unfold in a one-way direction, said Patrick Pan, China equity strategist at Daiwa Capital Markets.

Elsewhere, major Asian markets mostly traded higher after Nvidia fuelled overnight gains in US equities. The Nikkei 225 in Japan advanced 2.2 per cent to a record high. The Kospi Index in South Korea added 0.4 per cent, while the S&P ASX 200 in Australia gained less than 0.1 per cent.

This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP's Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright © 2024 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.

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