source from:WSJ
MARKETS  ASIA STOCKS
Hong Kong Stocks Enter Bull-Market Territory
Hang Seng Index has risen in six of the past seven sessions



By CHAO DENG
Updated July 21, 2016 5:21 a.m. ET
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Hong Kong stocks pushed into bull-market territory Thursday, in yet another sign of growing confidence among global investors that central banks will soon roll out stimulus measures.


The Hang Seng Index finished up 0.5% at 22000.49, and has now risen in eight of the past nine trading sessions. Property and financial stocks have propelled the benchmark’s recent gains, with those sectors up 2.7% and 1.1%, respectively, since the beginning of the week.


Today’s gains pushed the Hang Seng Index into positive territory for the year to date. From a low in mid-February, the benchmark is up more than 20%, the technical threshold for a bull market.


Elsewhere Thursday, the Nikkei Stock Average closed up 0.8%, Australia’s S&P/ ASX 200 was up 0.4% and South Korea’s Kospi slipped 0.2%.


The rally across most of Asia tracks with a string of record highs in U.S. stocks, with investors looking to central banks from Europe to Japan to enact coordinated easing following the U.K.’s vote to leave the European Union. Corporate earnings and strong economic data out of the U.S. also buoy sentiment in Asia.




“Central-bank expectations are the major driver, with good earnings from the bellwethers keeping the momentum going,” said Bill Bowler, an equities trader at Hong Kong-based brokerage Forsyth Barr Asia Ltd. Overnight, gains in Microsoft Corp. pushed the Dow to its seventh straight record, with the firm reporting better-than-expected earnings after the close.


In Hong Kong, some of the buying came from Chinese mainland investors, who have increasingly bought blue-chip stocks through a trading link between Shanghai and Hong Kong. Usage of the southbound quota for that link has risen to a high of 81%.


On Thursday, Cheung Kong Property Holdings Ltd. rallied 2.2% and Hang Lung Properties Ltd. was up 1.9%. Investors were betting that the city’s property market bottomed out in March. Home prices have risen 2% since then, according to a report yesterday by Citi.


Shares of HSBC Holdings PLC were up 0.4%, despite news overnight that a foreign-exchange executive at the firm was arrested for allegedly front-running a $3.5 billion currency trade for a client. The firm’s stock is off 18.5% in the year to date, making it one of the worst performers on the Hang Seng.


Investors had also been watching Bank Indonesia to see whether it would cut interest rates to support weak domestic demand. The central bank late Thursday left its benchmark interest rate unchanged.


But the greatest hope for stimulus in the region remains the Bank of Japan, scheduled to meet on July 28-29. Local media reported today that a government fiscal stimulus package could amount to 20 trillion yen ($187 billion).


The Japanese yen traded as weak as ￥107.24 to one U.S. dollar Thursday. A weaker local currency supports the competitiveness of Japanese exporters.


Decent U.S. economic data in recent days have raised expectations for U.S. rate increases later this year, also contributing to a higher dollar against the yen. Honda Motor Co. rose 4.5% and Nomura Holdings Inc. gained 5.0%.


Also in Tokyo, shares in the Japanese unit of McDonald’s Corp. hit a 15-year high Thursday as it continues to bask in Pokémon Go’s glow, with the fast-food firm previously announcing a tie-up with the global gaming phenomenon. McDonald’s Holdings Co.’s stock price rose as much as 10% to ￥3875, its highest level since August 2001, although it later reversed course, closing down 1.1% at ￥3475.


The ringgit weakened 0.6% to the U.S. dollar, following news that U.S. authorities were seeking to seize more than $1 billion of assets linked to alleged money laundering by parties involved with Malaysian state fund 1MDB. Most other Asian currencies strengthened against the greenback.


More than 12 million shares of the firm changed hands, renewing the record daily trading volume.


Prices of Brent crude oil was last up 0.4% at $47.38 a barrel.