China stocks slip but eye best week in five on stimulus hopes

Shenzhou International group

10/04/2020 06:15

* SSEC -0.7%, CSI300 -0.1%, HSI 1.4%
    * HK->Shanghai Connect daily quota used 100%, Shanghai->HK
daily
quota used 0%
    * FTSE China A50 +0.5%

    SHANGHAI, April 10 (Reuters) - China stocks slipped on
Friday on bleak factory gate data that pointed to a prolonged
recovery, but were set to end the week with their biggest gains
in five on hopes of more economic stimulus to shore up the
world's second-largest economy. 
    ** At the midday break, the Shanghai Composite index  .SSEC 
was down 0.65% at 2,807.64 points.  
    ** China's blue-chip CSI300 index  .CSI300  was down 0.14%,
with its financial sector sub-index  .CSI300FS  higher by 0.34%,
the consumer staples sector  .CSI000912  up 0.66%, the real
estate index  .CSI000952  up 0.41% and the healthcare sub-index
 .CSI300HC  down 0.1%.
    ** For the week, SSEC gained 1.6%, while CSI300 was up 2%,
both recording their biggest weekly advance since the week of
March 6. 
    ** China's factory gate prices fell the most in five months
in March, with deflation deepening and set to worsen in coming
months as the economic damage wrought by the coroanvirus shuts
down many countries.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N2BX1KW 
    ** Analysts expect a deep first-quarter economic contraction
in China and have grown increasingly pessimistic about the
country's prospects for 2020 due to the pandemic's sweeping
global impact.
    ** Beijing has rolled out a series of fiscal and monetary
support steps, and sources have told Reuters that policymakers
are readying more stimulus to stabilise growth and prevent mass
unemployment.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2BC3OW  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2BV1MT 
    ** Meanwhile, the U.S. Federal Reserve and the Bank of
England ramped up their emergency responses on Thursday as they
pushed deeper into territory once considered fraught with risk
for central bankers.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL2N2BX1ST 
    ** China on Friday reported a fall in new coronavirus cases,
particularly imported and asymptomatic infections which
authorities fear could see a second wave of COVID-19 as city and
travel restrictions are lifted.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N2BX6II 
    ** The yuan  CNY=CFXS  was quoted at 7.0387 per U.S. dollar,
0.08% firmer than the previous close of 7.044.  
    ** As of 04:36 GMT, China's A-shares were trading at a
premium of 26.26% over the Hong Kong-listed H-shares.
    ** The Hong Kong stock market, which is closed for Good
Friday, will not operate on April 13, Easter Monday. 

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