HONG KONG: China and Hong Kong stocks held firm on Tuesday, bucking modest losses across Asia after Wall Street fell overnight and with investors awaiting the upcoming Politburo meeting for policy direction.
The Shanghai Composite index closed 0.3% higher at 3,299.76 points, while the blue-chip CSI300 index ended little changed.
Both indexes are now near their highest level since April 3, just ahead of the market slump triggered by US President Donald Trump’s “reciprocal tariffs”.
The banking sector and chip stocks climbed 0.7% and 0.4%, respectively, leading the benchmarks higher.
China’s April Politburo meeting, likely to be convened later this week, will be a venue for a reassessment of the tariff situation and for deciding on offsetting policies, analysts at Citi said in a note to clients.
Investors are now looking out for continued efforts to support asset prices and if there’ll be an “opportunistic depreciation” FX policy, among others, they added.
Also supporting the markets, China’s “national team” and private retail investors have been in sync to buy the dip to defend the market as the Sino-US trade conflict shows no signs of easing. In Hong Kong, the benchmark Hang Seng Index reversed earlier losses and closed up 0.8%, also its highest level since April 3. The Hang Seng Tech Index climbed 0.2%.
Limiting gains, China’s e-commerce firm JD.com and delivery platform Meituan both tumbled 6.6% as competition heats up between the companies.
More broadly, other Asian stock markets largely held their ground despite Wall Street’s decline overnight.
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