Hong Kong stocks hit near 4-week high as China steps up support

Hong Kong stocks rose to the highest level in almost four weeks on Monday as Beijing stepped up policy stimulus to cushion the economic impact from the coronavirus outbreak.

** The Hang Seng index closed up 0.5% at 27,959.60, after touching its highest level since Jan. 22. The Hang Seng China Enterprises index gained 0.9%.

** The sub-index of the Hang Seng tracking energy shares rose 0.1%, the IT sector gained 0.7%, the financial sector ended 0.4% higher and the property sector edged up 0.2%.

** The People's Bank of China cut the interest rate on its medium-term lending on Monday, paving the way for a reduction in the country's benchmark loan prime rate (LPR), which will be announced on Thursday.

** China's securities watchdog has loosened refinancing rules for listed firms by scrapping profitability requirements for private placements on start-up board ChiNext. ** The number of new cases of coronavirus in China's Hubei province rose on Monday after two days of falls.

** Sentiment was aided as the Chinese workforce returned after an extended holiday, and companies found ways to overcome quarantines that curb the epidemic and limit business activity.

** Shares of ANTA Sports Products Ltd rose 5.1% after the company said 40% of its stores in the mainland have re-opened. China Evergrande Group hit a near one-month high after it sold nearly 50,000 properties worth 58 billion yuan ($8.32 billion) in three days of online sale.

** China's main Shanghai Composite index and the blue-chip CSI300 index rallied on Monday and erased all their losses from the steep plunge two weeks ago, triggered by fears of the coronavirus outbreak.

** Around the region, MSCI's Asia ex-Japan stock index was firmer by 0.2%, while Japan's Nikkei index closed down 0.7%.

** About 1.41 billion Hang Seng index shares were traded. The volume traded in the previous trading session was 1.45 billion.

** At close, China's A-shares were trading at a premium of 24.59% over Hong Kong-listed H-shares.

 

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)