Hong Kong stocks rose in early trading after three consecutive weeks of losses as investors flocked to auto and technology stocks after their recent dubbing. The city’s finance minister said the local job market will improve while the pandemic is under control.

The Hang Seng Index advanced 0.4 per cent to 28,137.09 at the local noon break. The Shanghai Composite Index added 1 per cent to 3,526.09. Geely Auto led gainers with a 4.1 per cent jump to HK$18.30. BYD jumped 7 per cent to HK$153.40. Great Wall Motors rose 4.6 per cent to 32.14 yuan.

Technology stocks rebounded from the lowest level since October. Food-delivery platform operator Meituan rose 3.8 per cent to HK$253.20 while Tencent Holdings added 2.8 per cent to HK$599.50, helping lift the Hang Seng Tech Index up by more than 2 per cent.

Sinopec rose 1.7 per cent to HK$4.10 and PetroChina added 1.9 per cent to HK$3.16 as crude traded near a two-month high. SF Real Estate Investment Trust slid 13 per cent on its trading debut.

Hong Kong’s high jobless rate will ease on the back of a sharp rebound in the economy while the city has largely put the local Covid-19 pandemic situation under control, Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po said in a blog post
on Sunday.

Local stocks had tumbled from their February highs through last week as faster US inflation and tightening credit in China fanned worries about an early end to quantitative easing. They have prompted analysts to warn of a ‘falling knife’ among global growth stocks.

US equities rebounded from the steepest loss since October on Friday, with major gauges advancing by more than 1 per cent after Federal Reserve officials said the central bank does not plan to withdraw support to the economy.

“Stocks in Hong Kong are tracking the rebound in the US, purchases of auto stocks jumped while investors already digested much of the news on antitrust in the technology industry,” said Francis Lun, CEO at Geo Securities. “Many of them have lost half of their values, and many deserved to be purchased at this point.”

Health care stocks climbed in onshore China markets. Medical equipment producer Shenzhen Mindray rose 5.6 per cent while its peer WuXi AppTec added 4.7 per cent.

China recorded five local infections in two provinces. While Singapore and Taiwan grappled with the outbreak and have issued tougher restrictions to control infections. Lun, however, said increasing vaccination in major countries have given confidence to traders to pick up beaten-down stocks.

Elsewhere, China’s latest data showed industrial profits rose 9.8 per cent from a year earlier while retail sales gained 17.7 per cent. Both decelerated from the previous month and trailed consensus forecasts.

SF Real Estate Investment Trust, which holds the logistics assets of China’s courier company S.F. Holdings, tanked on its debut. The stock slumped 14.5 per cent to the day’s low of HK$4.26, following its HK$2.5 billion (US$333 million) stock offering.

Two new listings surged in Shanghai. Shenzhen YHLO Biotech more than quadrupled to 65.80 yuan. Vitro diagnosis products developer and manufacturer Shanghai Rightongene Biotechnology soared 480 per cent to 106.80 yuan.