Hong Kong shares end at over 20-month high on tech boost
20/01/2021 09:04
* HK->Shanghai Connect daily quota used 0.2%, Shanghai->HK
daily
quota used 17.6%
* HSI +1.1%, HSCE +1.8%, CSI300 +0.7%
* Alibaba up 8.5% on Jack Ma's first public appearance since
Oct
BEIJING/SHANGHAI, Jan 20 (Reuters) - Hong Kong shares ended
at their highest level in more than 20 months on Wednesday,
extending gains for the fifth straight session boosted by gains
in tech stocks.
** The Hang Seng index .HSI ended up 320.19 points or 1.08% at
29,962.47, its highest closing since May 3, 2019. The Hang Seng
China Enterprises index .HSCE closed 1.83% higher at
11,949.35.
** The IT sector sub-index .HSCIIT led the gains by rising
5.47%, with the heavyweight heavyweight Alibaba Group 9988.HK
recorded the best intraday gain in more than six months.
** The financial sector .HSNF ended 1.16% lower, while the
sub-index of the Hang Seng tracking energy shares .HSCIE
dipped 0.5%. The property sector dipped 0.4%.
** Alibaba's founder Jack Ma made his first public appearance
since October, as he spoke to a group of teachers by video,
easing concerns about his unusual absence from public life and
boosting shares in the e-commerce giant. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2JV09Y
** Chinese mom-and-pop investors are stampeding into the stock
market for fear of missing out on the bull run, with more than
1.6 million share trading accounts newly opened in December,
doubling from a year earlier, latest data shows. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2JV0F7
** Sentiment in Hong Kong was also buoyed by a $1.9 trillion
stimulus package proposal from U.S. President-elect Joe Biden,
who will be sworn in later in the day.
** China's main Shanghai Composite index .SSEC closed up 0.47%
at 3,583.09 points, while the blue-chip CSI300 index .CSI300
ended up 0.72%.
** Around the region, MSCI's Asia ex-Japan stock index
.MIAPJ0000PUS was firmer by 2.03%, while Japan's Nikkei index
.N225 closed down 0.38%.
** The yuan CNY=CFXS was quoted at 6.467 per U.S. dollar at
08:13 GMT, 0.2% firmer than the previous close of 6.48.
(Reporting by Beijing and Shanghai Newsroom; Editing by Rashmi
Aich)
((Zoey.zhang@thomsonreuters.com))