Tencent, property shares power surge in Hong Kong
- Overnight tech rally in US and vow by China’s Politburo to stimulate the markets boost spirits of traders in battered mainland and Hong Kong exchanges.
Tech players including Tencent as well as property companies led a surge on Thursday on Hong Kong’s battered stock exchange, getting a boost by the overnight tech rally in the US and pledges by China’s top leadership to step up help for its own beaten down markets amid a slowing economy.
In Hong Kong, the benchmark Hang Seng Index added 1.8 per cent, or 436.31, to close at 25,416. It is down 15 per cent this year.
Meanwhile, the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index climbed 1.4 per cent to 10,279.32.
The Shenzhen Component Index climbed 1.1 per cent to close at 7,567.79.
The Shanghai Composite Index edged up just a bit, at 0.1 per cent, to 2,606.24 after losing some gains from earlier in the day, extending a two-day rally. The CSI 300 index, which tracks bigger companies, rose 0.7 per cent to 3,177.03.
In Hong Kong, technology and Chinese property shares led the gains. Tencent spiked 4 per cent to end at a one-week high of HK$277.80.
“Its industry peer Facebook released good results overnight,” said Louis Tse Ming-kwong, managing director of VC Asset Management. “Tencent is also rebounding from a long losing streak after negative news about its games not being approved has faded.”
AAC Technologies leapt 7.9 per cent to HK$64.35, Sunny Optical Technology shot up 7.4 per cent to HK$73.
“The market is expecting the meeting between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping at the coming G20 summit could ease the US-China trade war,” said Dickie Wong, executive director of research at Kingston Financial Group, who added technology shares are highly affected by global economic changes. “As the vast majority of technology companies serve foreign markets, stocks have rebounded as a result.”
Also in Hong Kong, Country Garden shot up 9.2 per cent to HK$9.16, China Resources Land jumped 4.7 per cent to HK$27.85 while China Overseas Land & Investment rose 4.7 per cent to HK$25.7.
“The market is expecting some relaxation in [property] policies,” said Wong. “Sales [of developers] despite price caps [on flats] have also been good.”
Also, the markets got a boost from the Communist Party’s Politburo, China’s top policymaking body headed by President Xi Jinping, saying on Wednesday that it would “stimulate market dynamic” and facilitate the “long-term healthy development” of capital markets, as the economy is under “growing downward pressure”.
The government has rolled out a flurry of policies since a week ago to aid the tumbling market weighed down by the escalating US-China trade war and a slowing economy. The Shanghai gauge has slumped more than 20 per cent since the beginning of this year.
Stocks related to artificial intelligence (AI) were among the top gainers, after Xi voiced support for the industry in a separate Politburo meeting on Wednesday. The faster development of AI is strategically significant for China to “win an initiative in the global technology competition”, Xi said.
A number of stocks rocketed to the 10 per cent daily limit in the mainland during the day, including Shenzhen Sunwin Intelligent Co, an intelligent system solutions supplier listed in Shenzhen, Beijing AriTime Intelligent Control Co, a manufacturer of industrial automation products listed in Shanghai, as well as Shenyang Yuanda Intellectual Industry Group listed in Shenzhen.
Securities brokerages also surged in the wake of proposed tax legislation that left a securities trading tax unchanged at 1 per cent.
Guosen Securities in Shenzhen surged 7 per cent to 8.97 yuan, Huatai Securities in Shanghai rose 3.7 per cent to 17.27 yuan, and Nanjing Securities in Shanghai climbed 2.85 per cent to 10.45 yuan.
Elsewhere in Asia, Singapore’s Straits Times Index rose 1.4 per cent to 3,060.85.
