Hong Kong stocks extend gains on policy support, trade hopes

Hong Kong stocks rose for a fourth straight session on Tuesday, helped by hopes of more stimulus to arrest cooling growth on the mainland and the island city and signs of progress in Sino-U.S. trade talks.

** The Hang Seng index rose 0.5%, to 27,683.40, while the China Enterprises Index gained 0.6%, to 10,877.63. ** Both indexes gained for the fourth day in a row.

** China's central bank cut the interest rate on its one-year medium-term lending facility loans on Tuesday for the first time since early 2016, as policymakers work to prop up a slowing economy hit by weaker demand at home and abroad. ** Analysts said the cut, while modest, maybe a sign the central bank is turning more proactive and is looking to ease investor worries that higher inflation will prevent it from delivering fresh stimulus measures.

** The cut came after a private survey showed China's services sector activity expanded at its slowest pace in eight months in October as new orders slowed and business confidence hit a 15-month low. ** On the island city, business activity in the private sector fell to its weakest in 21 years in October, weighed down by anti-government protests and softening global demand, according to an IHS Markit survey published on Tuesday.

** That could prompt the island's government to take further stimulative measures to bolster faltering growth. ** Developments in Sino-U.S. trade talks remained in focus, with China pushing U.S. President Donald Trump to remove more tariffs imposed in September as part of a "phase one" U.S.-China trade deal, people familiar with the negotiations said on Monday.

** Global trade barriers must be removed, and countries should uphold basic multilateral trade principles while standing firm against protectionism, Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Tuesday. ** Around the region, MSCI's Asia ex-Japan stock index was firmer by 0.58%, while Japan's Nikkei index closed up 1.76%.

** The yuan was quoted at 7.0015 per U.S. dollar at 08:10 GMT, 0.41% firmer than the previous close of 7.0305. ** About 1.75 billion Hang Seng index shares were traded, roughly 123.1% of the market's 30-day moving average of 1.42 billion shares a day. The volume traded in the previous trading session was 1.78 billion.

** At close, China's A-shares were trading at a premium of 28.73% over Hong Kong-listed H-shares.

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