Bargain hunting supports China stocks after three-day sell-off, HK flat

SHANGHAI: China’s main stock indexes steadied yesterday after three days of losses as investors hunted for bargains in beatendown property and resources shares.

Expectations that Beijing will not tolerate further market weakness ahead of the key Communist Party Congress next month also helped boost confidence, which has been rattled in recent sessions by fears that economic growth is starting to slow.

China’s securities watchdog said late on Monday that maintaining market stability is of ‘ extreme importance’, and is a political task.

Both China’s blue- chip CSI300 index and the Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.1 per cent by the lunch break, to 3,819.74 points and 3,343.90 points, respectively.

Property and resources shares, the biggest victims of the recent sell-off, rebounded. Both indexes gained 0.8 per cent.

Property shares had been hit by fresh steps in some cities to cool housing prices, while resource shares were sold on worries that a government crackdown on air pollution could curb manufacturing and mining activity and factory demand.

Profits at China’s state- owned firms rose 21.7 per cent in the first eight months of 2017 from the same period a year earlier, the Ministry of Finance said.

While still robust, the pace of growth softened slightly from Jan- July.

Hong Kong shares were also steady following Monday’s sharp fall, as investors largely ignored rising geo-political tensions over North Korea.

The Hang Seng index was unchanged at 27,491.87 points, while the Hong Kong China Enterprises Index gained 0.4 per cent to 10,957.46. — Reuters