China stocks fall, Evergrande's assurance lifts property stocks

SHANGHAI: Chinese stocks fell on Wednesday, led by by banking and consumer staples, while real estate shares jumped after developer China Evergrande assured to make bond interest payment.

The CSI300 index fell 1.1% to 4,801.94 by the end of the morning session, while the Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.3% to 3,603.41.

** China Evergrande Group's main unit said it would make a coupon payment on its domestic bonds on Thursday, offering some relief to jittery markets.

** The banking sub-index slumped 3.44%, while the real estate index jumped 5% after opening down nearly 2%.

** Over the holiday, property and banking stocks slumped in the Hong Kong market due to growing risks of defaults at Chinese property developers and concerns that Beijing's "common prosperity" agenda would also include Hong Kong real estate names.

** China Merchants Securities said in a note that the A-share market was not likely to continue to fall, citing the different structures of investors between the mainland and Hong Kong markets and policy space. They added overseas investors took up more than 40% of the investors in the Hong Kong market.

** Chinese A-share market opened after the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday, while the Hong Kong market was shut on Wednesday for a public holiday.

** The consumer staples and the tourism stocks declined more than 2.5% each amid resurgent COVID-19 cases.

** The energy sub-index gained over 3%, after Chinese leader Xi Jinping said on Tuesday that China would not build new coal-fired power projects abroad, meanwhile the state planner said it had sent out teams to ensure energy supply and price stabilisation measures had been implemented.

** The NEEQ Market Making Component Index, which tracks the most liquid equities traded on Beijing's New Third Board on which the Beijing Stock Exchange is based, jumped 5.2% to its highest since 2016 after Beijing bourse set investment threshold.