Hong Kong’s Hang Seng up 2% as tech stocks jump, Alibaba rises 5% ahead of earnings

SINGAPORE — Asia-Pacific shares traded higher on Thursday following the rally on Wall Street.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index jumped 2.15% in early trade, and the Hang Seng Tech index rose 3.16%.

Shares of Alibaba popped around 5% ahead of its earnings results later Thursday.

The Chinese e-commerce giant could see revenue decline for the first time on record, according to analysts’ average forecast on Refinitiv. But that could be the floor for Alibaba as revenue is expected to improve going forward.

Mainland China markets gained as well. The Shanghai Composite added 0.39% and the Shenzhen Component climbed 0.44%.

Elsewhere in Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.57%, while the Topix index was flat.

The Kospi in South Korea gained 0.55% and the Kosdaq advanced 1.08%.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.29%.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside of China was 0.68% higher.

Overnight in the U.S., the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 each gained more than 1%, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 2.59%, pulled higher by tech stocks.

A better-than-expected services PMI reading for July gave investors confidence amid concerns about a U.S. recession.

DBS, Singapore’s largest bank, reported a net profit of 1.82 billion Singapore dollars ($1.32 billion), the second highest in history, the bank said in a press release. That’s higher than the average forecast of 1.7 billion Singapore dollars, according to data from Refinitiv.

The bank’s shares fell 1.42%.

A Reuters report citing a single source said the world’s largest battery maker, CATL, will continue working toward delivering lower-cost lithium iron batteries to Ford Motor. CATL will also produce batteries in North America by 2026, the Wednesday report said.

Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday that CATL was delaying its decision on a North America plant.

CATL shares slipped 0.26% on Thursday.

The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 106.328, higher than earlier this week.

The Japanese yen traded at 133.71 per dollar, weaker than levels seen earlier this week. The Australian dollar was at $0.6961.

Oil futures inched up on Thursday after Brent settled 3.7% lower and U.S. crude fell 4% on Wednesday following U.S. data that showed crude and gasoline stockpiles rose unexpectedly.

U.S. crude rose 0.52% to $91.13 per barrel, while Brent crude gained 0.5% to $97.26 per barrel.