In remarks later dismissed as out of date Zhou Xiaochuan, the head of the People’s Bank of China, was cited on the central bank website as saying that the Shenzhen-Hong Kong stock connect trading link would kick off this year.
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The losing streak has hit four sessions now for the Hong Kong stock market, which has tumbled more than 770 points or 3.5 percent in that span. The Hang Seng Index now rests just above the 22,370-point plateau, although the market inherits a firm lead on Tuesday.
“The Shenzhen-Hong Kong connect will be launched this year, which shows China’s capital market opening a new route to link with the world”, Zhou said in an article posted on the bank’s Web site on Tuesday.
Total trading volume of companies included in the HSI index was 2.7 billion shares.
Overnight, the iShares China Large-Cap ETF (FXI) was little changed, the iShares MSCI China ETF (MCHI) rose 0.2%, the Deutsche X-Trackers Harvest CSI 300 China A-Shares Fund (ASHR) fell 0.7%, the Market Vectors China AMC ChiNext ETF (CNXT) was down 0.4%.
Pogson at Ernst & Young said worldwide investors would however require “a lot more help” from analysts and insiders to invest in Shenzhen, home to Chinese technology giants such as Tencent and Huawei.
Japan’s Topix index rose 0.9 per cent as markets in Tokyo resumed trading following a holiday yesterday. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.1 percent to 5,242.30.
Emerging stocks rallied to a three-month high on Wednesday, spurred by strong gains in Asia after decent data and encouraging comments out of China, and by promises of further stimulus in Europe, but Turkey’s lira weakened further.
CHINA SERVICES: China shares gained after a survey found that the country’s service industries strengthened last month.
The drops came after the National Bureau of Statistics said on Sunday that China’s manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI), a major advanced economic indicator, stayed at 49.8 in October, signalling contraction in factory activity and lingering pressure on the economy.
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ENERGY: Benchmark USA crude futures slipped 2 cents to $47.88 in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Investors expect that USA employers added 185,000 jobs in October and that the unemployment rate remained steady at 5.1 percent. The share price of $2.1 is at a distance of 12.9 percent from its 52-week low and down -45.03 percent versus its peak. The euro fell to $1.0949 from $1.1013 and the dollar rose to 121.14 yen from 120.76 yen.
