Hong Kong stocks rally over 6% in sixth straight day of gains

SINGAPORE — Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was up over 6% on Wednesday, hitting a 22-month high for a sixth day of gains amid further optimism about Beijing's latest stimulus policies.

The index closed up 6.2%, ending at 21,133.68, its highest since January 2023. The market resumed trading on Wednesday after a holiday on Tuesday.

Property developers fueled much of the gains, with China Vanke, Logan Group, and Longfor Group leading, up as much as 61%, 30% and 24%, respectively.

Major cities in mainland China introduced some easing measures to enhance homebuyer confidence over the weekend. Chinese tech giants also rallied, with Meituan, Baidu and JD.com all up over 9%.

Markets in mainland China were closed Wednesday and will remain so for the rest of the week due to the Golden Week holiday. Chinese stocks had rallied Monday to their best day in 16 years after Beijing announced a raft of stimulus measures last week, including interest-rate cuts, cutting reserve requirements for banks and providing more liquidity to investors.

Speaking to CNBC's "Street Signs Asia" James Sullivan of JPMorgan said he was remaining "cautious" about the big market rally in China due the stimulus measures so far focusing on supply and investment rather than consumption.

"The million dollar question in China right now is, does [the stimulus] only flow into the supply side of the equation, or does it ultimately flow through into consumer demand? That's not our expectation right now," Sullivan said.

Overall, Asia-Pacific markets were mixed Wednesday morning, following a poor start to the trading month on Wall Street that saw major indexes fall amid rising Middle East tensions.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 closed down 0.13% to 8,198.2. South Korea's Kospi fell