Thursday, 23 July 2015 14:05
HONG KONG: Hong Kong shares ended 0.46 percent higher Thursday, as a sixth-successive rise in mainland markets overshadowed more losses on Wall Street.
The benchmark Hang Seng Index added 116.23 points to 25,398.85 on turnover of HK$ 79.82 billion (US$ 10.30 billion).
Shanghai rallied 2.43 percent, meaning the market has now tacked on more than 17 percent since mainland authorities unveiled a series of measures to prevent a market meltdown on July 8.
The government has launched a slew of measures, including a police crackdown on short-selling, a ban on big shareholders from selling stock for six months and suspension of initial public offerings — to curb a rout since mid-June.
China’s securities regulator on Monday denied studying an exit plan for market-stabilisation funds.
The state-backed China Securities Finance Corp., tasked with restoring stability of the market, also denied reducing its holdings in listed companies, state media reported on Wednesday.
Investors welcomed the actions, which came after a month-long sell-off that saw Shanghai slump more than 30 percent, wiping trillions off valuations. The losses came on the back of profit-taking and fears about high prices after the index soared 150 percent in a year.
“Volatility has certainly fallen off in a big way and we are seeing sustained signs of stability,” Bernard Aw, a Singapore-based strategist at IG Asia, told Bloomberg News.
