SHANGHAI: China and Hong Kong stocks rose on Friday morning as better-than-expected Chinese trade data underpinned market sentiment.
China’s exports and imports accelerated last month after slowing in October, an encouraging sign for the world’s second-biggest economy which has started to slow amid an official crackdown on debt risks and factory pollution.
Shanghai Composite index was up 6.78 points or 0.21 percent at 3,278.84. China’s blue-chip CSI300 index was up 0.25 percent, with its financial sector sub-index lower by 0.17 percent, the consumer staples sector up 1.48 percent, the real estate index down 1.35 percent and healthcare sub-index up 0.2 percent. Chinese H-shares listed in Hong Kong rose 1.15 percent to 11,278.5 while the Hang Seng Index was up 0.87 percent at 28,550.41. The smaller Shenzhen index was up 0.84 percent and the start-up board ChiNext Composite index was higher by 0.91 percent. Around the region, MSCI’s Asia ex-Japan stock index was firmer by 0.67 percent while Japan’s Nikkei index was up 1.04 percent. The yuan was quoted at 6.6178 per U.S. dollar, 0.06 percent weaker than the previous close of 6.614. The largest percentage gainers in the main Shanghai Composite index were Yonghui Superstores Co Ltd up 10 percent, followed by Sanjiang Shopping Club Co Ltd gaining 6.44 percent and Wangfujing Group Co Ltd up by 6.24 percent. The largest percentage losses in the Shanghai index were Zhejiang Chint Electrics Co Ltd down 7.79 percent, followed by Sichuan Langsha Holding Ltd losing 5.54 percent and Shanghai Diesel Engine Co Ltd down by 4.06 percent. So far this year, the Shanghai stock index is up 5.43 percent, while China’s H-share index has risen 18.7 percent. Shanghai stocks have declined 1.36 percent this month. The top gainers among H-shares were PICC Property and Casualty Co Ltd up 3.6 percent, followed by Ping An Insurance Group Co of China Ltd gaining 3.55 percent and New China Life Insurance Co Ltd up by 3.32 percent. The three biggest H-shares percentage decliners were Dongfeng Motor Group Co Ltd which has fallen 0.74 percent, China Petroleum & Chemical Corp which has lost 0.6 percent and Agricultural Bank of China Ltd down by 0.3 percent. About 6.47 billion shares have traded so far on the Shanghai exchange, roughly 36.7 percent of the market’s 30-day moving average of 17.65 billion shares a day. The volume traded was 13.21 billion as of the last full trading day. As of 04:14 GMT, China’s A-shares were trading at a premium of 32.02 percent over the Hong Kong-listed H-shares. The Shanghai stock index is below its 50-day moving average and above its 200-day moving average. The price-to-earnings ratio of the Shanghai index was 14.68 as of the last full trading day while the dividend yield was 2 percent. In Hong Kong, the sub-index of the Hang Seng index tracking energy shares dipped 0.1 percent while the IT sector rose 2.7 percent. The top gainer on the Hang Seng was AAC Technologies Holdings Inc up 5.73 percent, while the biggest loser was China Unicom Hong Kong Ltd which was down 2.05 percent.
