The Hang Seng surged 669 points, or 2.5%, to close at 27,082 on Monday, swinging from weakness in the prior session amid robust gains across sectors. Sentiment improved as traders anticipated lower levies for China after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Trump’s sweeping tariff measures. The benchmark index hovered near a two-week high, further boosted by news that Hong Kong will spend HKD 4 billion to buy out owners of homes destroyed in November’s high-rise fire. Meanwhile, mainland markets will reopen Tuesday after the week-long Lunar New Year break, with early holiday data signaling “broadly firm” demand, according to Citi analysts. Tech stocks led the rally, with the sector index jumping over 3% from Friday’s seven-month low, buoyed by optimism over China’s AI sector. SMIC climbed 4.6%, while Alibaba Hong Kong gained 3.6% and Tencent rose 3.5%. Gold-linked shares also surged alongside bullion, including Zijin Gold Intl. (7.2%), Zhojin Mining (5.6%), and Laopu Gold (2.8%).
