Stock market today: Asian shares are mixed, with China up after state fund says it will buy stocks

Shares are mixed in Asia, where Chinese markets advanced after a government investment fund said it would step up stock purchases

BANGKOK -- Shares were mixed Tuesday in Asia, where Chinese stocks surged after a government investment fund said it would step up stock purchases and a report said leader Xi Jinping was set to meet with officials to discuss the markets.

Oil prices rose and U.S. futures were mixed.

Bloomberg reported that Xi was to be briefed by officials about the markets, underscoring the ruling Communist Party's concern over a slump that has wiped out trillions of dollars in market value over the past several years. Citing unnamed officials, it said the timing of the briefing was uncertain. The report could not be confirmed.

But markets jumped after it was published, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng surging 4% to 16,133.60 in a rally led by technology shares such as e-commerce giant Alibaba, which gained 7.7% and JD.com, which was up 7.7%. Online food delivery company Meituan jumped 6.5%.

The Shanghai Composite index climbed 3.2% to 2,789.49. In China's smaller main market, the Shenzhen Component index soared 6.2%, while the CSI 1000, an exchange-traded fund that often is used to track so-called “snowball derivatives,” investment products that can pay big gains but also can result in exaggerated losses, advanced 7%.