Hong Kong’s stocks soared on the first trading day in the Year of the Tiger, led by gains among EV makers after a bumper sales month in January, while technology stocks advanced amid signs the global sell-off is easing. The Hang Seng Index rose 3.2 per cent to close at 24,573.29, marking the biggest daily percentage gain in two weeks, while the Tech Index jumped by 3.1 per cent. Stock markets in Shanghai and Shenzhen remained shut to mark the Lunar New Year holiday. Alibaba Group Holding, the owner of this newspaper, led Friday’s gains, jumping 5.6 per cent to a two-week high of HK$120.40. Food delivery platform Meituan added 3.3 per cent, Tencent rose 1.5 per cent, while JD.com and NetEase advanced by at least 1.8 per cent each. “In January, Hong Kong stocks proved to be resilient against declines and the outlook should not be pessimistic,” said Wang Xueheng, an analyst at Guosen Securities, in a strategy report published on Thursday. Chinese tech stocks caught up with their US-listed peers, after the Nasdaq Golden Dragon China Index gained at least 5 per cent since Hong Kong markets last traded on Monday . As many as 62 out of the 64 members on the benchmark Hang Seng Index advanced, its top 10 performers rising by at least 5 per cent each. The key index recouped at least US$42 billion of market value after being bruised by a global sell-off stoked by the Federal Reserve’s hawkish stance in late January. “A-shares have fallen significantly as the short-term economic indicators are relatively weak, but we are expecting further policy easing to support the market, thus investors need not continue being too pessimistic in the short term,” added Wang. China’s manufacturing and service industries slowed last month as the country battled a resurgent Covid-19 outbreak, according to official reports on Sunday. The economic slowdown fuelled hopes that more loosening of monetary policy is on the way, given Beijing’s key policy goal of stabilising growth this year. Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX), the operator of the city’s exchange, will focus on “initiatives that will deliver market structure improvements [such as] green finance solutions [and] mutual market access programmes, bringing more opportunities for the industry and investors,” said chairwoman Laura Cha. Shares of HKEX, which are listed on the exchange, rose by 1 per cent to HK$442.60. Hong Kong stocks in for a roaring Year of the Tiger, Feng Shui Index shows Stocks in Hong Kong have risen in the week following the Lunar New Year holiday in seven of the last 10 years, according to Bloomberg data. They climbed by 1 per cent on average. “As we look ahead to the Year of the Tiger, we know that Hong Kong will have a major role to play supporting the fast evolving, interconnected global capital markets of tomorrow, [as with the Hong Kong Exchanges’ role to] create shared prosperity for us all,” said Nicolas Aguzin, HKEX’s chief executive in a video message on Friday. Shares of companies that are the official partners of the 2022 Winter Olympics rose, ahead of the official commencement of the games at 8pm local time in Beijing. Anta Sports Products, one of China’s largest athletic gear producers and owner of several winter sports brands including Salomon and Atomic, jumped by 6.4 per cent to a nine-week high of HK$123.90. Air China jumped 4.3 per cent. China Unicom added 2 per cent, while Bank of China and Sinopec gained at least 1 per cent. In China’s shoe capital, home-grown firms take on Adidas and Nike Chinese electric vehicle (EV) makers shot up, after their January sales surged by more than 100 per cent from a year ago. BYD appreciated 7.1 per cent after its EV deliveries jumped by a massive 362 per cent . Shares of Li Auto soared 12.6 per cent, while XPeng advanced by 11.2 per cent. Separately, HSBC rose 5 per cent to HK$57.90, its highest in almost two years, as the Bank of England hiked interest rates for the second time in three months, a move likely to bolster its lending profits. Standard Chartered added 4.8 per cent to trade at a 23-month high. Major Asian markets rose on Friday. Japan’s Nikkei 225 index gained 0.7 per cent, while South Korea’s Kospi Index added 1.6 per cent, and the Australian benchmark advanced by 0.6 per cent.