China blue-chips scale over 13-year high on recovery cheer; Hong Kong up

SHANGHAI: China stocks advanced in the last trading session before the Lunar New Year holiday, with the blue-chip index scaling a more than 13-year high on Wednesday as investors cheered a continued recovery in the world's second-largest economy.

** The CSI300 index rose 1.7% to 5,781.43 points at the end of the morning session, the highest since Oct. 18, 2007, while the Shanghai Composite Index gained 1.0% to 3,640.65 points.

** For the holiday-shortened week, CSI300 climbed 5.4%, while SSEC added 4.1%. The A-share market will be closed from Thursday through Feb. 17, and resume trading on Feb. 18, 2021.

** China's factory gate prices rose in annual terms in January for the first time in a year, as months of strong manufacturing growth pushed raw material costs higher. The producer price index rose 0.3% from a year earlier, the fastest pace of increase since May 2019.

** Also helping sentiment, worries eased of an abrupt policy shift amid recent tight liquidity conditions, after the latest lending data.

** China's new bank loans leapt to new highs in January, boosted by seasonal demand, while broad credit growth slowed, as the central bank walks a tightrope between supporting a recovering economy and rising debt risks.

** "We believe the equities market would benefit from the positive signal after expectations-beating social financing data," analysts at Ping An Securities said in report, adding cyclical sectors and export firms would benefit from the outlook of a recovery both at home and abroad.

** The Hang Seng index added 1.7% to 29,988.72 points, while the Hong Kong China Enterprises Index gained 1.8% to 11,807.38.