HK shares end higher on China policy boost, trade talk hopes

Sino Land

15/03/2019 08:35

* HSI +0.6 pct, HSCE +0.5 pct; big earnings week looms
    * China's premier vows strong measures to boost growth
    * Sino-U.S. talks seen substantial progress - Xinhua

    HONG KONG, March 15 (Reuters) - The Hong Kong market closed
higher on Friday, after China pledged to prop up slowing
economic growth and appeared to make progress in its trade talks
with the United States.
** At the close of trade, the Hang Seng index  .HSI  was up 0.6
percent at 29,012.26 points, while the Hang Seng China
Enterprises index  .HSCE  rose 0.5 percent. The Hang Seng gained
2.8 percent this week, while H-shares were up 3.1 percent
week-on-week.
** The sub-index of the Hang Seng tracking energy shares
 .HSCIE  rose 1.5 percent, while the IT sector  .HSCIIT  gained
1.1 percent, the financial sector  .HSNF  ended 0.3 percent
higher and the property sector  .HSNP  rose 0.4 percent.
** China will not let economic growth slip out of a reasonable
range amid downward pressure on its economy, Li said on Friday
at a press conference marking the end of the annual meeting of
the National People's Congress.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N2121OC
** The Chinese premier pledged strong measures to support
growth, saying that the government could use tools such as
reserve requirements and interest rates.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N2121OC
** Chinese Vice Premier Liu He spoke by telephone with U.S.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and U.S. Trade Representative
Robert Lighthizer, making further substantive progress on trade
talks, Xinhua news agency said on Friday.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nB9N20G02G
** A U.S.-China summit to seal a trade deal between Presidents
Donald Trump and Xi Jinping will not happen at the end of March
because more work is needed in U.S.-China negotiations, Mnuchin
said on Thursday. But he noted that the two sides are trying to
reach a deal "as quickly as possible."  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2110ZG
** A group of Hong Kong-listed companies, including market
leaders Tencent Holdings Ltd  0700.HK , CK Hutchison Holdings
 0001.HK  and China Mobile Ltd  0941.HK , are reporting their
full year 2018 earnings next week.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N2113VR
** The top gainer on the Hang Seng was Sunny Optical Technology
Group Co Ltd  2382.HK , which gained 5.1 percent, while the
biggest loser was Shenzhou International Group Holdings Ltd
 2313.HK , which fell 1.4 percent.
** Around the region, MSCI's Asia ex-Japan stock index
 .MIAPJ0000PUS  was firmer by 0.6 percent, while Japan's Nikkei
index  .N225  closed up 0.8 percent.
** About 2.04 billion Hang Seng index shares were traded. The
volume traded in the previous trading session was 1.43 billion.
** At close, China's A-shares were trading at a premium of 22.58
percent over the Hong Kong-listed H-shares.  .HSCAHPI    

 (Reporting by Noah Sin; Editing by Rashmi Aich)
 ((noah.sin@thomsonreuters.com; Reuters Messaging:
noah.sin.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))