China, Hong Kong markets aided by video-game stocks bounce; Aussie shares close near 2-year highs

Hong Kong's IPO market is expected to rebound next year after a slump in 2023.

In the past year, there were just 65 initial public offerings in the city raising 45.8 billion Hong Kong dollars, according to a report earlier this month from Deloitte China's Capital Market Services Group. That would be a 23% drop in the number of listings and 54% drop in proceeds, the report said.

But CMSG is optimistic for next year and expects 80 IPOs in 2024 to raise HK$100 billion. The report noted that market liquidity and valuations could rise as the U.S. interest rate hiking cycle ends.

Hong Kong has "a healthy pipeline of listing applicants ... and with all the new initiatives that the Hong Kong stock exchange has been implementing, that would actually give them a very good infrastructure to build on, to tap into 2024," Ivy Wong of Baker & Mckenzie told CNBC's "Squawk Box Asia."

Wong added that the firm estimates Hong Kong has 90 to 100 listings in the pipeline for next year and that even more applicants can be expected in 2024.

— Quek Jie Ann

Tencent and NetEase shares rebounded after China's top gaming regulator said it will "carefully study" the concerns of all stakeholders on draft rules aimed at curbing excessive online gaming and spending.

The draft guidelines from China's National Press and Publication Administration released last Friday sank the Hong Kong-listed shares of Tencent, NetEase and Bilibili — among the largest players in the world's biggest online gaming market.

NetEase shares surged nearly 14% in early trading as Hong Kong markets returned from the Christmas holidays. The stock had plunged about 25% on Friday. Rival Tencent opened Wednesday's session up 3% after shedding more than $43 billion in market value in Friday's rout.

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— Clement Tan

Stocks in Australia led gains among Asia-Pacific markets in the early hours of Wednesday.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index gained as much as 1.2% to hit a high of 7,593.40, a level not seen since late April 2022, as trading resumed for the week. The Aussie dollar traded flat against the U.S. dollar.

The index is eying gains of over 7% for 2023. Australia stocks have fared better than other major Asia-Pacific markets. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index has clocked declines of over 17% this year, while China's CSI 300 index is down over 13%.

Aussie stocks have been supported by hopes that the Reserve Bank of Australia will no longer be hiking interest rates after the central bank held rates steady at its last meeting of the year, partly driven by the Federal Reserve's more dovish tilt.

Minutes from the RBA's last meeting showed that the Australian central bank deliberated on whether to raise rates by 25 basis points or leave them unchanged, with the board members eventually deciding to hold them at 4.35%.

— Shreyashi Sanyal

The world is aging rapidly, and there are more and more ways to invest in this theme.

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— Weizhen Tan

Eight stocks have rallied every single time after a chart pattern known as a "golden cross" has occurred, according to CNBC Pro's analysis.

The golden cross pattern occurs when a stock's short-term 50-day moving average goes above its long-term 200-day moving average on a chart. Wall Street often sees this as a bullish signal and an indicator of strong upward momentum that often precedes sustained gains.

The technical analysis of these stocks found that share prices rallied 100% of the time by 15% on average in the 30 days after forming the pattern.

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— Ganesh Rao

Stocks finished higher to kick off the final trading week of 2023.

The S&P 500 climbed 0.4% to end at 4,774.75, while the Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.5% to settle at 15,074.57. The Dow Jones industrial Average gained 159.36 points, or about 0.4%, to close at 37,545.33.

— Samantha Subin

Energy stocks were among the best performers in the S&P 500, boosting the sector 1.3% as oil prices gained more than 3% as attacks on ships in the Red Sea fueled shipping disruption fears.

APA Corp wast the best performer in the sector, rising 3.6%. Marathon Oil, Devon Energy, Diamondback Energy and Baker Hughes jumped about 2% each. WIlliams Companies was the worst-performing stock in the sector, gaining 0.2%.

Utilities stocks also gained on Tuesday, lifting the S&P sector 0.9%. Edison International and Constellation Energy were the best performers, jumping 3% and 3%, respectively.

— Samantha Subin

Oil has had a tough year, and John Kilduff doesn't see things getting any easier for the commodity.

"In the year ahead, we'll scale some heights temporarily, but for the most part there are big headwinds here in terms of the economic outlook," Kilduff, founding partner of Again Capital, told CNBC's "Squawk on the Street."

He noted the global economic outlook is softening, "and that's going to speak right to crude oil demand [and] energy demand for the next year." He also said that, "with the United States doing what it's doing in terms of record production, sky high exports ... OPEC+ just can't cut enough to sustain a price much above where we are right now."

West Texas Intermediate futures jumped more than 3% on Tuesday but remained 5.4% lower for 2023.

— Fred Imbert