HONG KONG: China shares rebounded from modest early losses on Thursday, led by gains in real estate developers and consumer goods, on hopes that the start of long-awaited US rate cuts will give Beijing policymakers more room to stimulate the ailing Chinese economy.
China’s blue-chip CSI300 Index and Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.8% and 0.6%, respectively.
Hong Kong benchmark Hang Seng climbed 1.8%, while Hang Seng Tech Index jumped more than 3%.
The US central bank on Wednesday kicked off an anticipated series of interest rate cuts with a larger than usual half-percentage-point reduction.
Investor sentiment perked up as the US rate cut provides Beijing with more room to ease monetary conditions and other policies, with less risk of heaping pressure on the yuan.
Shen Zhengyang, investment advisor at Northeast Securities, said sustainability of the market rebound hinges on the strength of China’s easing measures.
China stocks gain on quickening factory activity
“If China slashes benchmark lending rates, cuts mortgage rates for existing loans, lowers RRR, and issue more bonds to aid the economy, the stock market may bounce 5-10%,” Shen said.
The CSI Liquor Index and CSI Real state Index each jumped more than 4%.
The consumer staples sector rose 2.45%, the healthcare sub-index added 1.09%, and the financial sector sub-index was higher by 0.48%.
While Fed rate cuts are generally positive for emerging market assets, Yan Wang, chief emerging markets and China strategist at Alpine Macro, warned that China’s domestic macroeconomic policies and growth outlook are far more critical than the Fed’s actions.
“The PBoC should have acted with more aggressive rate cuts,” he said. Over in Hong Kong, the city’s Monetary Authority on Thursday cut its base rate charged via the overnight discount window by 50 basis points to 5.25%.
Hong Kong’s monetary policy moves in lock-step with the United States as the city’s currency is pegged to the greenback in a tight range of 7.75-7.85 per dollar.
Hong Kong-listed mainland property stocks advanced 5.9% while local real estate firms were up 2.6% after the interest rate cuts.
China Resources Land Ltd surged 9%.
Source: Brecorder
