China, Hong Kong stocks rangebound in choppy trade on caution amid steady lending rates

HONG KONG: China stocks rose, while Hong Kong shares dipped in choppy trading on Wednesday, as investors remained cautious amid steady lending rates.

China, Hong Kong shares rebound on chip gains, strong earnings

• At the midday break, the Shanghai Composite index was up 0.55% at 3,364.54 points.

• China’s blue-chip CSI300 index was up 0.27%, with the consumer staples sector up 0.29% and the healthcare sub-index up 2.45%.

• Hong Kong’s benchmark Hang Seng Index was down 0.12% at 19,641.05.

• China’s central bank left benchmark lending rates unchanged at the monthly fixing, after recent rate cuts squeezed banks’ profitability and the yuan comes under fresh pressure with Donald Trump’s imminent return to the White House.

• The fundamentals have improved following the recent policy supports but haven’t shown significant strength yet. The market rotation among major sectors is likely to stay with no signs of earnings bottoming out, analysts at Sinolink Securities said in a note.

• Around the region, MSCI’s Asia ex-Japan stock index was weaker by 0.08% while Japan’s Nikkei index was down 0.38%.

• Chinese ADRs fell 0.75% overnight.

• The yuan was quoted at 7.2418 per US dollar, 0.03% weaker than the previous close of 7.2395.