Citizens dine at a restaurant on December 1, 2022 in Guangzhou, China’s Guangdong Province.
VCG | China Visual Group | Getty Images
Shares in the Asia-Pacific rose on Monday as China relaxed virus-testing rules in some cities, signaling further easing may be on the way in the nation, which has been under tight related restrictions with Covid for more than two years.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 3% in early trade, and the Hang Seng Tech Index rose more than 5%. In mainland China, the Shanghai Composite rose 0.83% and the Shenzhen Composite rose 0.53%.
Oil prices rose 2% as OPEC+ maintained its policy of cutting oil production and China relaxed some Covid rules.
The Nikkei 225 in Japan gained 0.19% and the S&P/ASX 200 in Australia rose 0.5%. South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.17% and the Kosdaq rose 0.58%. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 1.6%.
In the US on Friday, stocks fell after a strong jobs report, but then markets focused on the possibility of smaller Fed hikes and major indexes closed slightly lower.