Hong Kong stocks cling onto last week's gains, HSBC jumps

Boc Hong Kong Holdings

03/05/2022 10:03

HONG KONG, May 3 (Reuters) - Hong Kong stocks on Tuesday
managed to hold onto most of their gains from the previous
session with heavyweight HSBC rising after its largest
shareholder, Chinese insurance giant Ping An, called for a
break-up of the London-headquartered bank.
    ** The Hang Index  .HSI  gained 0.06% to 21,101.89, while
the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index  .HSCE  shed 0.43% to
7,267.25. 
    ** Mainland Chinese markets are closed for a holiday.
Trading will resume on Thursday. 
    ** The Hang Seng index has been moving around the 20,000
level for the last few days, and in the near term it remains to
be seen how China implements potentially market friendly
policies, said Louis Tse, managing director of Hong Kong
brokerage Wealthy Securities. 
    ** The benchmark jumped 4% on Friday, its last close, led by
tech stocks  .HSTECH  that rose 10% after China signalled an
easing of its crackdown on the once-freewheeling tech sector, as
President Xi Jinping seeks to bolster the economy in the face of
growth-sapping COVID-19 lockdowns.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL2N2WR0UQ 
    ** The Hang Seng Tech Index  .HSTECH  slipped a little on
Tuesday, falling 1.38%. 
    ** HSBC's Hong Kong shares  0005.HK  marked their best day
in six weeks, rising 2.57%, following reports on Friday that
Ping An  601318.SS  had urged HSBC to explore options including
spinning off its Asian business, where it earns the majority of
its revenue, or take other steps to increase its valuation.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL2N2WV01U    
   ** Bank of China Hong Kong  2388.HK  was the top gainer on
the Hang Seng Index, up 4.71%, following strong results after
market close on Friday. 
   ** Markets in London and Hong Kong were closed on Monday for
a holiday. 
  ** Alibaba's shares  9988.HK  were volatile on Tuesday,
falling as much as 9% after a state media report said Chinese
authorities had taken action against an individual surnamed Ma,
but recouped losses after those reports were revised to make
clear it was not the company's founder. Shares ended down 1.76%.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N2WV0IC 
   ** Mainland developers trading in Hong Kong  .HSMPI  added
2.6%, building on Friday's gains. 


 (Reporting by Alun John in Hong Kong;
Editing by Vinay Dwivedi)
 ((alun.john@thomsonreuters.com))