The Hang Seng surged 573 points or 2.8% to close at its highest in nearly two months of 20,790 on Tuesday, as traders shrugged off news of reciprocal tariffs between China and the US.

As Washington's new tariffs took effect, Beijing moved with levies of 15% on US coal and LNG and 10% on crude oil, farm equipment, and certain autos, set to begin on Feb. 10, China's finance ministry said.

In addition, Chinese regulators launched a probe into Google over alleged anti-monopoly practices. Sentiment was further lifted by the resumption of mainland trading Wednesday after a week-long Lunar break.

The Hong Kong tech index jumped by 5% as investors poured into AI stocks after startup DeepSeek unveiled a cost-effective large language model. The EV sector also rallied, with XPeng soaring 12.3% after reporting an almost threefold rise in January smart EV deliveries. Geely Auto climbed 7.7%, while Semicon Manufacturing surged 8.5%. Meituan and Xiaomi Corp. also surged 6.0% and 4.2%, respectively.

Source: Trading Economics