Hong Kong stocks rise as Alibaba slips; Australia hikes interest rate

SINGAPORE — Stocks across Asia-Pacific mostly declined on Tuesday, as Australia hiked its interest rate for the first time in more than a decade

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.42% to close at 7,316.20 and the Australian dollar last declined to $0.7090, after jumping to levels around $0.7121 following the hike

Australia’s central bank said Tuesday the cash rate will be increased by 25 basis points to 0.35% — the first rate hike since November 2010

The hike was larger than the analyst estimate for 15 basis points to 0.25%, according to the median forecast of a Reuters poll of 32 economists

In other markets, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index edged down 0.1% in the last hour of trade. Shares of Alibaba earlier fell more than 9%, before last paring losses to decline 1.37%

The stock had fallen following unconfirmed rumors that linked the company’s founder Jack Ma to a national security investigation. Chinese state media reported that the Hangzhou security bureau on April 25 took “criminal coercive measures” on an individual with the last name Ma over suspicion of using the internet to endanger national security

CNBC was unable to confirm the Chinese report. Alibaba and the Jack Ma Foundation did not immediately respond to a request for comment

U.K.-based bank HSBC’s stock in Hong Kong rose about 2% in the afternoon. On Friday, Reuters reported HSBC’s top shareholder Chinese insurance giant Ping An called for the bank’s break-up

Ronald Wan, non-executive chairman at Partners Financial Holdings, told CNBC’s “Street Signs Asia” on Tuesday: “When we look at this matter, we need to add in some sort of a political element as well

“Definitely the Hong Kong operation can be operating independently … separated from other parts of operation. I think it can follow the instruction of the government …more correctly,” Wan said. “For the global investors, I think they need to make a decision whether they should accept this … separation or spinoff

Over in South Korea, the Kospi fell 0.26% to finish at 2,680.46. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan declined 0.32%

Several markets are closed in the region for holidays, including China, Japan, Singapore and India. Hong Kong will return to trade from a holiday on Monday

Over in Europe, shares in the region abruptly fell on Monday, driven by a brief crash in Swedish markets. It was caused by a single sell order trade from Citigroup, reportedly tied to a wrong calculation relating to a Nasdaq index that involved Swedish stocks

In U.S. stocks, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite hit new lows for the year before closing in positive territory for the day

The Nasdaq Composite rose 1.63% to 12,536.02, while the S&P 500 rose 0.57% to 4,155.38. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 84.29 points, or 0.26%, to close at 33,061.50. The Dow was down more than 500 points at its session lows

The yield on the benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasury note rose about 11 basis points to 2.994% on Monday, hitting a high of 3.01% during the session — the highest since Dec. 3, 2018

Financial markets expect the U.S. central bank on Wednesday to announce a half-percentage point increase in the Fed’s benchmark interest rate

The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 103.626, rising from levels around 103.4 earlier

The Japanese yen traded at 130.23 per dollar, as it stayed at levels weaker than 129

Oil prices declined in the afternoon of Asia trading hours, with international benchmark Brent crude futures falling 0.87% to $106.61 per barrel. U.S. crude futures lost 0.85% to trade at $104.26 per barrel