China, Hong Kong stocks rise on strong quarterly earnings, financials boost

China Taiping Insurance Holdings

23/10/2020 05:55

* SSEC 0.1%, CSI300 0.2%, HSI 0.6%
    * HK->Shanghai Connect daily quota used 100%, Shanghai->HK
daily
quota used 4%
    * FTSE China A50 +0.7%

    SHANGHAI, Oct 23 (Reuters) - China and Hong Kong stocks
firmed on Friday morning, helped by gains in heavyweight
financial firms and strong quarterly earnings so far. 
    ** At the midday break, the Shanghai Composite index  .SSEC 
was up 0.13% at 3,316.87, while the blue-chip CSI300 index
 .CSI300  was up 0.18%.
    ** Leading the gains, the CSI300 banks index  .CSI000951 
climbed 1.8% to a more than three-month high. 
    ** The smaller Shenzhen index  .SZSC  was down 0.31%, the
start-up board ChiNext Composite index  .CNT  was weaker by
0.49% and Shanghai's tech-focused STAR50 index  .STAR50  was
down 1.08%​. 
    ** Investors are closely watching corporate earnings in the
third quarter.  
    ** China's corporate earnings had already improved in the
second quarter, while the improvement trend continued more
quickly in the third quarter, analysts at Dongxing Securities
said in note. 
    ** Earnings improvement would become a major driver behind
stock performance as China has marginally tightened monetary
policy, the brokerage added.  
    ** Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Friday that China
will never allow its sovereignty, security and development
interests to be undermined, adding that the Chinese people are
not to be trifled with.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nB9N2GP01B  
    ** Market participants are also keeping an eye out on the
U.S. election which is perceived as big uncertainty for the
A-share market. 
    ** U.S. President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe
Biden offered sharply contrasting views on the still-raging
COVID-19 pandemic at Thursday's final presidential debate,
seeking to persuade the few remaining undecided voters 12 days
before the Nov. 3 election.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2HD0U2 
    ** Around the region, MSCI's Asia ex-Japan stock index
 .MIAPJ0000PUS  was weaker by 0.26% while Japan's Nikkei index
 .N225  was up 0.34%.
    ** The yuan  CNY=CFXS  was quoted at 6.6834 per U.S. dollar,
0.02% firmer than the previous close of 6.685. 
    ** Chinese H-shares listed in Hong Kong  .HSCE  rose 0.64%
to 10,149.52, while the Hang Seng Index  .HSI  was up 0.62% at
24,938.85. 

 (Reporting by Luoyan Liu and Andrew Galbraith; Editing by
Rashmi Aich)
 ((luoyan.liu@thomsonreuters.com; Reuters Messaging:
luoyan.liu.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))