Sawt Falasteen - Stock markets rally with tech in focus

Hong Kong closed up more than three percent, with investors snapping up stocks following a poor start to the week sparked by fresh concerns over US President Donald Trump's tariff plans.

In Europe, Paris and Frankfurt led the way with gains of more than one percent nearing the half-way stage.

The dollar gained against main rivals and oil prices steadied.

Traders brushed off a disappointing Tuesday for much of Wall Street that followed more weak US economic data.

After resumption of "a rally in the Chinese tech sector (...) the big news awaiting the markets later today is the quarterly earnings report from Nvidia", noted AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould.

"Such is its weighting and its importance to the all-pervasive AI theme, the results could have a significant impact on market sentiment," he added.

Hong Kong's stock market rally comes as investors snap up long-neglected tech names, after Chinese startup DeepSeek unveiled a chatbot last month that upended the AI universe.

Beijing's moves to bring the firms in from the cold after years of government crackdowns on the industry also boosted sentiment.

E-commerce heavyweight Alibaba was again one of the major advancers, rallying 4.8 percent, with JD.com more than eight percent higher, Meituan up nearly 10 percent and Tencent up 3.4 percent.

Sentiment took a knock at the start of the week from news that Trump had signed a memo over the weekend calling for curbs on Chinese investments in industries including technology, critical infrastructure, healthcare and energy.

The move is aimed at promoting foreign investment in the United States, while protecting national security interests "particularly from threats posed by foreign adversaries" like China, the White House said.

A rare faller among major stock markets Wednesday was Tokyo, hit by recent strengthening of the yen amid expectations that the Bank of Japan would continue hiking interest rates this year.

The yen has benefitted also from a pickup in bets on cuts to US interest rates.

Expectations for Federal Reserve reductions were boosted by a Conference Board survey showing US consumer confidence in February saw its largest monthly decline since August 2021.

The reading came on the heels of other lacklustre US reports including on service sector activity, jobs and inflation.

- Key figures around 1115 GMT -

London - FTSE 100: UP 0.5 percent at 8,714.70 points

Paris - CAC 40: UP 1.1 at 8,142.80

Frankfurt - DAX: UP 1.3 percent at 22,710.60

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.3 percent at 38,142.37 (close)

Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: UP 3.3 percent at 23,787.93 (close)

Shanghai - Composite: UP 1.0 percent at 3,380.21 (close)

New York - Dow: UP 0.4 percent at 43,621.16 (close)

Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.0495 from $1.0517 on Tuesday

Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.2641 from $1.2668

Dollar/yen: UP at 149.56 from 149.00 yen

Euro/pound: UP at 83.02 pence from 83.00 pence

Brent North Sea Crude: UP 0.1 percent at $73.06 per barrel

West Texas Intermediate: UP 0.2 percent at $69.03 per barrel

K.AbuTaha--SF-PST