Fauci, chief medical adviser to the White House, said on Sunday that initial data showed that patients infected with Omicron showed only mild symptoms, and early signs suggested that Omicron might be less dangerous than the Delta virus, allaying investors' concerns that a new variant of the virus was hampering economic recovery. Us travel-related stocks rebounded significantly last night, particularly AAL.US, UAL.US, CCL.US, RCL.US and NCLH.US, which surged 7.9 per cent and 9.5 per cent last night.

Hong Kong aviation stocks reversed yesterday's decline and rose significantly across the board. 00293.HK (Cathay Pacific Airways) re-over 10 antennas (6.52 yuan), as high as 6.62 yuan, is now trading at 6.55 yuan, up 6.2%. 00696.HK rallied 5 per cent to Rmb13.44, with shares trading over 10 days and 20 antennas (Rmb13.4). Meilan Airport (00357.HK) reached a high of 24.95 yuan and is now trading at 24.85 yuan, up 6%.

Air China (00753.HK) Chongyue 100 antenna (5.26 yuan), as high as 5.36 yuan, is now at 5.28 yuan, up 6%; its A shares rose more than 5% from a high of 8.73 yuan.

China Southern Airlines (01055.HK), which was included by Citigroup as one of the six preferred Hong Kong stocks, Chongyue 10 days and Baiqiao (Rmb4.49), reached as high as Rmb4.64 and is now at Rmb4.60, up 6.7 per cent; its A shares rose 5.5 per cent to as high as Rmb6.55.

China Eastern Airlines (00670.HK) crossed 10 days and 20 lines (2.91 yuan), the highest at 2.98 yuan, now at 2.94 yuan, up 5%; its A shares rose about 2% once as high as 4.89 yuan.

Other travel-related stocks, Samsonite (01910.HK), performed best, surpassing 10 antennas (15.35 yuan) to 15.7 yuan, up 8.1%. Fosun Tourism Culture (01992.HK) rebounded 5.4% to 9.75 yuan.