Local shares rebound from last week’s sell-off

Local shares headed north along with their peers in the region on Monday, overcoming market jitters sparked by concerns about interest rates and stimulus.

Investors shifted their focus back to optimism over the global economic recovery as US treasury yields eased and a huge US stimulus package heads to the Senate for approval.

The Hang Seng Index rose more than 1 percent at start and gained as many as 570 points before ending the day up 472 points, or 1.6 percent, at 29,452, on turnover of HK$209.2 billion.

Leading the gains was Meituan, which soared nearly 8 percent as tech shares stabilised from last week’s rout.

Tencent jumped 5.2 percent. Xiaomi advanced 2 percent.

Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing ended its five-day losing streak and added 3.5 percent.

Alibaba Health Information and Technology surged 9.4 percent and mainland hotpot restaurant chain Haidilao gained 8.1 percent following an announcement that the companies will be added into the blue-chip index on March 15.

Markets across the border also rallied even though new figures show slowing manufacturing activity in the country. The Shanghai Composite Index put on 1.2 percent, while the blue-chip CSI300 index gained 1.5 percent. The Shenzhen Composite surged 2.4 percent.

In Japan, Softbank and Uniqlo helped lift the Nikkei to finish 2.4 percent higher. Australia climbed 1.7 percent after the country’s central bank announced the doubling of its bond purchases. Singapore edged up about 1 percent. South Korea and Taiwan were closed for holidays.