China, Hong Kong stocks set for 3rd weekly gain on trade deal optimism
20/12/2019 04:49
* SSEC 0.2%, CSI300 0.3%, HSI 0.4%
* HK->Shanghai Connect daily quota used 1.3%, Shanghai->HK
daily
quota used 1.4%
* FTSE China A50 +0.3%
SHANGHAI, Dec 20(Reuters) - China and Hong Kong stocks
firmed on Friday, heading for their third straight weekly gain
on improving relations between Washington and Beijing after they
reached an initial trade deal last week.
** The Shanghai Composite Index .SSEC rose 0.2% to
3,022.90 at the end of the morning session, having gained 1.9%
so far this week. The CSI300 index .CSI300 advanced 0.3% to
4,039.49.
** The Hang Seng index .HSI added 0.4% to 27,902.68 and
was up 0.8% for the week. The Hong Kong China Enterprises Index
.HSCE firmed 0.5% to 11,044.92.
** U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Thursday
the United States and China would sign their so-called Phase one
trade pact at the beginning of January, adding that it was
completely finished and just undergoing a technical "scrub."
urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N28T0XR
** China on Thursday unveiled a new list of import tariff
exemptions for six chemical and oil products from the United
States, days after the world's two largest economies announced a
Phase 1 trade deal. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N28T1NH
** As the initial trade deal removed some of the uncertainty
over the Sino-U.S. tariff dispute, investors turned their focus
to the health of the world's largest economy and Beijing's
policy moves.
** China's economy could face more downward pressure in 2020
than it did this year, but the government will take steps to
keep growth within a reasonable range, state television on
Thursday quoted Premier Li Keqiang as saying. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N28T31J
** Economic growth slowed to near 30-year lows in the third
quarter, however, policymakers have been more cautious about
growth boosting measures than in past downturns.
** China stood pat on its lending benchmark rate on Friday,
as widely expected, after the central bank kept borrowing costs
of medium-term loans steady earlier this month. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N28U0K6
** Around the region, MSCI's Asia ex-Japan stock index
.MIAPJ0000PUS was firmer by 0.06%, while Japan's Nikkei index
.N225 was up 0.03%.
** The yuan CNY=CFXS was quoted at 7.008 per U.S. dollar,
0.03% firmer than the previous close of 7.01.
** So far this year, the Shanghai stock index is up 20.98%,
while China's H-share index is up 8.5%. Shanghai stocks have
risen 5.05% this month.
** As of 0410 GMT, China's A-shares were trading at a
premium of 26.85% over the Hong Kong-listed H-shares.
(Reporting by Luoyan Liu and John Ruwitch; Editing by Aditya
Soni)
((luoyan.liu@thomsonreuters.com; Reuters Messaging:
luoyan.liu.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))