SHANGHAI: China stocks closed up on Monday, erasing losses in early trade, as investors expected more policy support after data showed China’s November consumer prices posted their fastest fall in three years while factory-gate deflation deepened.
The blue-chip CSI 300 Index ended 0.6% higher, after dropping as much as 1.6%, while the Shanghai Composite Index finished up 0.7%.
The blue-chip benchmark was hovering at levels seen nearly five years ago.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index closed down 0.8% and the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index declined 1.2%.
Other Asian shares drifted lower in a week packed with a quintet of top central bank meetings and data on US inflation that could make or break market expectations for an early and rapid-fire round of rate cuts next year.
China’s consumer price index (CPI) dropped 0.5% both from a year earlier and versus October, indicating rising deflationary pressures as weak domestic demand casts doubt over the country’s economic recovery.
China will continue to implement a proactive fiscal policy, which will be moderately strengthened, and implement a prudent monetary policy, which will be “flexible, moderate, precise, and effective”, the Politburo, a top decision-making body of the ruling Communist Party, said on Friday.
The statement “continued to send pro-growth signals”, Goldman Sachs said in a note. “However, the discussion around high-quality growth and emphasis of ‘appropriate pace of easing’ imply policy support will likely still be measured rather than being aggressive.”
Investors are awaiting the upcoming Central Economic Work Conference (CEWC), which will likely be held over the next few days, for more policy clues.
Shares in coal miners and media firms jumped 2.7% each, while real estate developers fell 1.5%.
Hong Kong-listed tech giants lost 1.1%, and mainland developers listed in the city shed 1.3%.
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