China stocks rise to 6-week closing high on trade deal, upbeat data

Shenzhou International group

16/12/2019 07:28

SHANGHAI, Dec 16 (Reuters) - China stocks rose to a six-week
closing high on Monday, as investors cheered a preliminary
Sino-U.S. trade deal and upbeat data pointing to resilience in
the world's second-largest economy.
    ** The blue-chip CSI300 index  .CSI300  rose 0.5%, to
3,987.55, while the Shanghai Composite Index  .SSEC  added 0.6%
to 2,984.39, its highest close since Nov. 8. 
    ** The United States and China cooled their trade war on
Friday, announcing a "Phase one" agreement that reduces some
U.S. tariffs in exchange for what U.S. officials said would be a
big jump in Chinese purchases of American farm products and
other goods.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N28N0NT 
    ** The deal will nearly double U.S. exports to China over
the next two years and is "totally done" despite the need for
translation and revisions to its text, U.S. Trade Representative
Robert Lighthizer said on Sunday.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N28P02N  
    ** Analysts said they expected the deal to help reduce
external uncertainties for the A-share market and boost market
sentiment, though some sounded a cautionary note given the
long-term character of the disputes between the two countries.  
    ** Investors shall not be overly optimistic, as disputes
between Beijing and Washington on trade and technology would
remain in the long term and would continue to disturb the global
economy and financial market, analysts at Shanxi Securities said
in a report. 
    ** A slew of rosy economic data also helped underpin the
market. 
    ** Growth in China's industrial and retail sectors beat
expectations in November, as government support propped up
demand and amid easing trade hostilities with Washington.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N28Q0SV 
    ** The recent positive developments remove some clouds from
China's economic outlook and also mitigate the immediate need
for stimulus to support ambitious growth targets.
    ** China plans to set a lower economic growth target of
around 6% in 2020 from this year's 6%-6.5%, relying on increased
state infrastructure spending to ward off a sharper slowdown,
policy sources said.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N28N292  
    ** Around the region, MSCI's Asia ex-Japan stock index
 .MIAPJ0000PUS  was firmer by 0.22%, while Japan's Nikkei index
 .N225  was down 0.29%.
    ** The yuan  CNY=CFXS  was quoted at 7.0028 per U.S. dollar,
0.01% weaker than the previous close of 7.002. 
    ** So far this year, the Shanghai stock index is up 19%,
while China's H-share index is up 7.0%. Shanghai stocks have
risen 3.33% this month. 
    ** As of 07:05 GMT, China's A-shares were trading at a
premium of 26.88% over the Hong Kong-listed H-shares.

 (Reporting by Luoyan Liu and John Ruwitch; Editing by
Subhranshu Sahu)
 ((luoyan.liu@thomsonreuters.com; Reuters Messaging:
luoyan.liu.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))