Hong Kong
Hang Seng Index (HSI) up nearly 1.6%, adding to Monday’s gains. China
Shanghai Composite (SHCOMP) up 0.7%.
South Korea
Kospi Index (KOSPI) up around 1.3% and Japan
Nikkei 225 (N225) up 2.2%.
In Hong Kong, investors moved from last week’s sharp losses. On Friday, Hang Seng experienced its worst day in almost five years after Beijing moved to pass a controversial national security law, a blow to the financial center’s autonomy.
Chinese foreign ministry commissioner in Hong Kong, Xie Fang, moved to reassure confused investors late Monday. The law will not affect freedom of speech, press, publications, and meetings, Xie said,
according to to the Xinhua government news agency.
Xie added that the controversial law would protect law-based international business operations in Hong Kong.
“The dust cloud in Hong Kong has settled faster than anyone expected. Local risk sentiment is not nearly as severe as everyone feared,” Stephen Innes, global market strategist at AxiCorp, said in a note on Tuesday.
There is also a feeling of “reopening optimism” among investors, Innes said. They are optimistic about lockdowns in the United States and elsewhere will end.
In Japan, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Monday raised a state of emergency for the whole country, because the corona virus outbreak there subsided.
Abe is also eyeing a new stimulus package, saying that he will work to increase the government’s stimulus package to more than 200 trillion yen ($ 1.9 trillion), or about 40% of the annual output of the world’s third largest economy.
US futures also rose, as Americans jostled on a crowded beach in Florida, Maryland, Georgia, Virginia, and Indiana for that Memorial Day weekend. Many countries have begun to lift restrictions on business and public space.
Dow futures rose more than 330 points. S&P futures are up nearly 1.4% and Nasdaq futures are up around 1.5%.
