(Reuters) – U.S. stock index futures bounced on Monday, as a report of Beijing regulators concluding a year-long probe into Didi Global added to optimism about easing COVID-19 curbs in the country, lifting shares of other NY-listed China stocks.
Shares of the ride railing firm surged 50% to $2.77 in premarket trading after the Wall Street Journal reported that regulators are preparing as early as this week to allow the mobile app back on domestic app stores.
Didi, which was hit by a data-related cybersecurity investigation days after its IPO in June 2021, approved delisting its American Depositary Shares last month.
“It adds to the optimism that regulatory crackdowns are closer to the end of the tunnel,” said Christopher Wong, a senior strategist at Maybank in Singapore, adding that it also fed into hopes about China’s reopening and growth momentum.
Shares of Alibaba, Baidu, JD.com Inc advanced between 4% and 6% as investors also cheered Beijing and Shanghai steadily returning to normal life from China’s biggest COVID-19 outbreak in two years.
At 5:12 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 272 points, or 0.83%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 45 points, or 1.1%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 185.75 points, or 1.48%.
Broadly, market heavyweights Apple Inc rose 1.6% and Tesla Inc advanced 4.1%, attempting to recoup some of Friday’s losses after a solid jobs report dampened hopes for a pause in the U.S. Federal Reserve’s aggressive policy-tightening.
“The question remains how meaningful this rally can be,” Wong added as traders look ahead to a rate hike by the Fed next week and more looming after that.
(Reporting by Medha Singh in Bengaluru, additional reporting by Tom Westbrook in Singapore; editing by Uttaresh.V)
