HONG KONG (Nikkei Markets) -- Hong Kong shares advanced by midday on Tuesday after a choppy morning session, as investors bought into local equities ahead of quarterly earnings announcements by HSBC Holdings and Hang Seng Bank.
The Hang Seng Index was up 0.1% at 31,151.65 by the noon lunchbreak after falling as much as 1.3% earlier in the session. London-headquartered HSBC added 0.8% ahead of its December quarter earnings, while its unit Hang Seng Bank slipped 0.5%. During the midday break, HSBC reported a more than doubling of its 2017 reported profit before tax to $17.2 billion. Hang Seng Bank, which is majority owned by HSBC, reported a 23.5% increase in full-year net profit and a 10.5% increase in net interest income.
