HONG KONG: China stocks edged up on Thursday, led by gains in new energy sector shares, while investors awaited key economic data due on Friday.
The Shanghai Composite index was up 0.7 percent at 4,029.50 to its highest since 2015 and ended a two-day decline. China’s blue-chip CSI300 index climbed 1.2 percent.
Leading gains, the CSI New Energy Vehicle Index surged 6.2 percent to a three-year high, and the New Energy Index rallied 4.7 percent in its biggest single-day gain in two weeks.
Battery maker CATL surged 7.6 percent to near a record high last seen in October, and miner Tianqi Lithium jumped 10 percent.
China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will announce a comprehensive plan to boost the new energy battery sector and promote its infrastructure usage, a senior official said on Thursday.
The artificial intelligence sector and chip shares climbed 0.6 percent and 0.7 percent, respectively, to recover some losses seen earlier this week.
“The market will likely continue consolidating and building momentum around the 4,000-point level in the short term, which is beneficial for solidifying the market foundation and accumulating strength for subsequent movements,” analysts at Yingda Securities said in a note.
“It could help set the stage for further breaking new highs for the rest of the year.”
In Hong Kong, the benchmark Hang Seng Index added 0.6 percent to a one-month high. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index also reversed earlier losses to gain 0.6 percent.
Alibaba rallied 3.3 percent after a Bloomberg News report that the firm is preparing a revamp of flagship AI app to resemble ChatGPT.
Elsewhere, investors are awaiting China’s key set of data releases such as retail sales, industrial output, and investment on Friday, to get a sense of the economic recovery and any implications for the policy outlook.
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