HONG KONG: Hong Kong stocks hit a one-month high on Tuesday morning, shrugging off bearish sentiment from weak Wall Street as commodity strength lifted resource shares.
China stocks were flat in thin trading, as some state-owned enterprises (SOE) took a breather after a recent rally fuelled by restructuring hopes. There was mute response toward data showing producer prices surged the most in more than five years in December, from a year earlier, as prices of coal and other raw materials soared.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index at midday was on track to rise for a fourth consecutive session, up 0.5 percent to 22,675.19 points, while the Hong Kong China Enterprises Index gained 0.6 percent, to 9,656.62 points.
Market sentiment in Hong Kong was boosted by a rally in commodity prices on the mainland. Futures contracts of rebar and coke added around 5.5 percent and 4 percent at the lunch break.
Most sectors were up, but energy retreated after oil prices on Monday posted their biggest one-day loss in six weeks amid fears that record Iraqi crude exports in December and rising U.S. output would undermine OPEC’s efforts to curb a global supply glut.
Shares of Chinese retailer Intime Retail Group soared nearly 35 percent at the lunch break on news that e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd was seeking to take Intime private.
On the mainland, the blue-chip CSI300 index erased early losses and edged into positive territory, up 0.1 percent, to 3,366.09 points. The Shanghai Composite Index shed 0.1 percent, to 3,169.17 points.
