CHINA INDEXES UP AGAIN
REUTERS - FEBRUARY 10, 2021 - China stocks advanced in the last trading session before the Lunar New Year holiday, with the blue-chip index scaling a more than 13-year high on Wednesday as investors cheered a continued recovery in the world’s second-largest economy.
The CSI300 index rose 1.7% to 5,781.43 points at the end of the morning session, the highest since Oct. 18, 2007, while the Shanghai Composite Index gained 1.0% to 3,640.65 points.
For the holiday-shortened week, CSI300 climbed 5.4%, while SSEC added 4.1%. The A-share market will be closed from Thursday through Feb. 17, and resume trading on Feb. 18, 2021.
China’s factory gate prices rose in annual terms in January for the first time in a year, as months of strong manufacturing growth pushed raw material costs higher. The producer price index rose 0.3% from a year earlier, the fastest pace of increase since May 2019.
Also helping sentiment, worries eased of an abrupt policy shift amid recent tight liquidity conditions, after the latest lending data.
China’s new bank loans leapt to new highs in January, boosted by seasonal demand, while broad credit growth slowed, as the central bank walks a tightrope between supporting a recovering economy and rising debt risks.
“We believe the equities market would benefit from the positive signal after expectations-beating social financing data,” analysts at Ping An Securities said in report, adding cyclical sectors and export firms would benefit from the outlook of a recovery both at home and abroad.
The Hang Seng index added 1.7% to 29,988.72 points, while the Hong Kong China Enterprises Index gained 1.8% to 11,807.38.
-----
Earlier: