China stocks rose on Thursday as government steps to reform the initial public offering system bolstered hopes of more fund-raising by local companies, while Hong Kong shares were buoyed by U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s dovish remarks. ** China’s blue-chip CSI 300 Index gained 0.06% by the end of the morning session, while the Shanghai Composite Index climbed 0.29%.
** Hang Seng Index gained 0.41% and Hang Seng China Enterprises Index rose 0.47%. ** Asia’s stock markets jumped on Thursday after Powell said a “disinflationary” process was underway, bolstering risk appetite and expectations that the U.S. central bank will soon end its monetary tightening streak.
** The Fed scaled back interest rate hike to 25 basis points as expected, but said benchmark overnight interest rate will be increased further and remain elevated at least through 2023. ** China published draft rules on Wednesday to broaden the registration-based initial public offering (IPO) system, marking a big step towards reforming the world’s second-biggest stock market.
** Citic and CICC wil be key beneficiaries, as reform will boost their A share underwriting fees, JP Morgan said in a research note. ** Hong Kong shares of CICC rose 3.85%, while Citic inched up 0.22%.
** By sector, semiconductor in China jumped 2.93%, while the CSI Media Index climbed 2.41%. In Hong Kong, the healthcare index rose 3.09%. ** The Hang Seng Tech Index rose 1.74%, with internet stocks leading gains.
** Hong Kong-listed Weibo shares surged 8.75%, Baidu jumped 6.93%, and Tencent was 1.45% higher. ** “One driver for further upside of the Hang Seng Index is China big-cap tech stocks,” said May Ling Wee, a portfolio manager at Janus Henderson Investors.
** “If internet companies can show better revenue growth this year, as their businesses recover alongside the economy, this will be a driver of their share price and thereby the Hang Seng Index.”
(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)