Hong Kong Stocks Set for Bull Market After Best Start Since '09
(Bloomberg) -- Hong Kong’s equity traders are once again on the brink of celebrating a bull market.
The Hang Seng Index surged as much as 1.8 percent to 29,564.74 in intraday trading Monday, briefly sending the gauge up more than 20 percent from its October low. A close at or above 29,502.64 would make it official. The benchmark surged 12 percent in the first quarter, its best three-month performance in almost a decade.
Burned by last year’s rout, investors have slowly come back to Hong Kong, encouraged by surging risk appetite in China, a dovish shift in central-bank policy globally and heavyweight Tencent Holdings Ltd.’s return from gloom. The pace of gains has been nowhere near as fast as on the mainland, where returns are better than in any other market in the world. All major indexes in China had already entered a bull market earlier this year.
The milestone comes after disappointing results from some of Hong Kong’s biggest stocks had shattered hopes for a bull market last month. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index, another gauge that tracks Chinese shares in Hong Kong, is only another good day or two away from achieving the same feat, up 18 percent since a low in January.
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