Hong Kong's Hang Seng index jumps almost 2%, leading to gains in the mixed Asia-Pacific trading day

January 10, 2022: – Shares in Asia-Pacific were mixed following heavy losses for some regional markets in the last trading day, as investors continued to assess the impact of a potentially faster-than-expected policy tightening by the U.S. Federal Reserve on Friday. The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong improved 1.82% to close at 23,493.38, leading to gains among the major markets.

Hong Kong-listed shares of Shimao Group decreased 5.43% after Reuters reported that the developer defaulted on a trust loan.

However, shares of other Chinese real estate companies listed in the city saw gains: China Evergrande Group climbed 4.85%, and Sunac increased 4.08%. The Hang Seng Properties index gained 2.54%.

Therefore, mainland Chinese stocks closed lower. The Shanghai Composite decreased 0.18% to 3,579.54 while the Shenzhen component shed 0.595% to 14,343.65.

The Nikkei 225 in Japan shed earlier gains closed marginalizes lower at 28,478.56, which adds to losses after a nearly 3% drop on Thursday. The Topix index finished the trading day fractionally lower at 1,995.68.

South Korea’s Kospi gained 1.18%, which closes at 2,954.89. Shares in Australia were up on the day, with the S&P/ASX 200, which rose 1.29% to 7,774.40.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan edged 0.75% higher.

Markets were spooked in the week and decreased sharply after minutes from the Fed’s December meeting showed officials at the central bank ready to dial back policy help aggressively.

The benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasury note yield rose as high as 1.75% on Thursday, last sitting at 1.7302%, still much higher after ending 2021 at 1.51%. Yields move inversely to prices.

Overnight on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average decreased 170.64 points to 36,236.47 while the S&P 500 shed nearly 0.1% to 4,696.05. The Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.13% to approximately 15,080.87.