Hong Kong shares lead gains in Asia-Pacific as China’s June exports beat forecasts

SINGAPORE, Jul 13, 2021, CNBC. Shares in Asia-Pacific were higher on Tuesday as investors reacted to China’s trade data for June, CNBC reported.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index led gains regionally as it jumped 1.63% to close at 27,963.41.

In mainland China, the Shanghai composite rose 0.53% to close at 3,566.52 while the Shenzhen component climbed 0.183% on the day to 15,189.29.

China’s exports in June jumped 32.2% as compared with a year earlier, customs data showed Tuesday. That was much higher than a forecast by analysts in a Reuters poll for a 23.1% growth in exports for June.

The data also showed Chinese imports in June surging 36.7%. That compared against an estimate for imports to have increased 30%, according to Reuters.

The Nikkei 225 in Japan closed 0.52% higher at 28,718.24 while the Topix index ended the trading day 0.73% higher at 1,967.64. South Korea’s Kospi climbed 0.77% to close at 3,271.38.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 finished the trading day little changed at 7,332.10.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose around 0.93%.

Overnight stateside, the major indexes on Wall Street rose to record closing highs.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 126.02 points to 34,996.18 while the S&P 500 gained about 0.35% to 4,384.63. The Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.21% to 14,733.24.