SHANGHAI: China stocks and Hong Kong shares climbed on Wednesday, helped by Wall Street's record run, and a perception that the United States likely withdrawal from an Asia-Pacific free trade area would allow China to play a bigger role in the region.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has served notice that he intends to withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) once he is inaugurated.
China's blue-chip CSI300 index rose 0.5 percent, to 3,485.59 points at the end of the morning session, while the Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.2 percent, to 3,255.84 points.
Both indexes hit their highest levels since early January, and are in a technical upward trend, having broken out of a trading range that lasted for eight months.
China's property sector jumped over 2 percent, on news that China Evergrande Group had bought another 551.96 million Shenzhen-traded Vanke shares in recent months, doubling its stake in the developer to 10 percent.
The purchase reinforces the view that modestly-priced property stocks are still worth investing, despite Beijing's home purchase restrictions.
The insurance sector continued to advance, amid talks of a re-pricing of the sector, in the backdrop of rising bond yields, and a recovering stock market, which help boost insurers' investment returns.
Hong Kong shares were also firm.
The Hang Seng index added 0.4 percent, to 22,763.52 points, while the Hong Kong China Enterprises Index gained 0.9 percent, to 9,735.71.
Most sectors in Hong Kong rose, with materials and industrial shares leading the gain.
HSBC said in its latest strategy report that it continues to "have a relative preference for the Hong Kong market", because of its attractive valuation and still strong, despite softening southbound inflows from China amid yuan depreciation expectations.
However, HSBC is prudent on China shares, citing a range of factors including liquidity instability, a lack of active investors, and a growing number of controlling shareholders who have been reducing their stakes.
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