China, Hong Kong stocks climb as dismal data feeds hopes of stimulus against virus

Xinjiang La Chapelle Fashion Co

27/03/2020 05:08

* SSEC 1.4%, CSI300 1.6%, HSI 1.2%
    * HK->Shanghai Connect daily quota used 5.2%, Shanghai->HK
daily
quota used 1.3%
    * FTSE China A50 +1.6%

    SHANGHAI, March 27 (Reuters) - China and Hong Kong stocks
rose on Friday as dismal industrial data reinforced expectations
of further stimulus to shield the world's second-largest economy
from the coronavirus pandemic.
    ** The CSI300 index  .CSI300  rose 1.6% to 3,757.10 points
at the end of the morning session, while the Shanghai Composite
Index  .SSEC  gained 1.4% to 2,803.99 points. 
    ** The Hang Seng index  .HSI  climbed 1.2% to 23,634.14
points, while the Hong Kong China Enterprises Index  .HSCE 
gained 1.6% to 9,594.65.  
    ** Profits at China's industrial firms slumped in the first
two months of the year to their lowest in at least a decade,
with the mining, manufacturing and power sectors all seeing
sharp falls as the virus outbreak battered China's economy.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2BK0JO 
    ** "The profit outlook will remain bleak before new stimulus
to aggregate demand," said Xing Zhaopeng, markets economist at
ANZ in Shanghai. "The worldwide lockdowns will continue to weigh
on the economy." 
    ** Also helping lift sentiment in China, leaders of the
Group of 20 major economies pledged on Thursday to inject over
$5 trillion into the global economy to limit job and income
losses from the coronavirus and "do whatever it takes to
overcome the pandemic."  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N2BJ5W5 
    ** For the short term, investor concerns over the A-share
market would be substantially alleviated as global capital
markets have already witnessed a recovery, Yan Kaiwen, an
analyst with China Fortune Securities, said in a report. 
    ** Mainland China reported its first locally transmitted
coronavirus case in three days and 54 new imported cases, as
Beijing ordered airlines to sharply cut international flights
fearing travellers could reignite the coronavirus outbreak.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2BK068 
    ** China on Thursday ordered local airlines to maintain only
one route to any country and limit flights per such routes to
one per week, effective March 29. Foreign airlines have also
been ordered to cut routes to China to one and limit flights to
one per week, although many had already stopped flying to the
country.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2BJ03R 
    ** Around the region, MSCI's Asia ex-Japan stock index
 .MIAPJ0000PUS  was firmer by 1.4%, while Japan's Nikkei index
 .N225  jumped 2.43%, as stimulus hopes were bolstered after
U.S. unemployment filings surged to a record.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2BI1VH
    ** The yuan  CNY=CFXS  was quoted at 7.0625 per U.S. dollar,
0.11% firmer than the previous close of 7.07. 
    ** As of 04:22 GMT, China's A-shares were trading at a
premium of 28.39% over the Hong Kong-listed H-shares.

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