Hong Kong stocks post worst quarter since 2015 amid virus concerns

Hong Kong shares rose on Tuesday on signs that China's economy may be recovering from the coronavirus shock, but deepening fears of a global recession sent them to their worst quarter since 2015.

** At the close of trade, the Hang Seng index was up 1.9% at 23,603.48. The Hang Seng China Enterprises index rose 2.1%. ** But the Hang Seng fell 9.7% in March, marking its worst month since October 2018. It dropped 16.3% in the first quarter, its largest quarterly decline since the third quarter of 2015.

** On Tuesday, the sub-index of the Hang Seng tracking energy shares rallied 5.3%, the IT sector rose 2.1%, the financial sector gained 1.4% and the property sector was up 3.3%. ** Factory activity in China unexpectedly expanded in March from a collapse the month before, but analysts caution that a durable near-term recovery is far from assured as the global coronavirus crisis knocks foreign demand and threatens a steep economic slump.

** The pandemic is expected to sharply slow growth in developing economies in East Asia and the Pacific as well as China, the World Bank said in an economic update on Monday. ** Hong Kong private home prices in February posted the biggest monthly decline since November 2018, falling 2.1% as the coronavirus spread across the financial centre.

** The top gainer on the Hang Seng was PetroChina Co Ltd , which gained 8.4%, while the biggest loser was CSPC Pharmaceutical Group Ltd, which fell 4.3%. ** Around the region, MSCI's Asia ex-Japan stock index was firmer by 1.3%, while Japan's Nikkei index closed down 0.9%.

** About 2.88 billion Hang Seng index shares were traded. The volume traded in the previous trading session was 2.55 billion. ** At close, China's A-shares were trading at a premium of 25.30% over Hong Kong-listed H-shares.