Rare earth and battery stocks lead China shares higher

SHANGHAI: China stocks rose on Wednesday, as markets looked past statements from this week’s Politburo meeting and shifted attention to rare earth and battery themes.

Hong Kong shares were also up. China’s blue-chip CSI300 Index climbed 0.6% by the lunch break, while the Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.4%.

Hong Kong benchmark Hang Seng was up 1.2%.

The Politburo, a top decision-making body of the ruling Communist Party, reiterated China’s “proactive” fiscal stance and “appropriately loose” monetary policy - language that was similar to readouts of previous meetings, suggesting no imminent additional stimulus plans.

“The meeting is in line with our view that policymakers tend to calibrate stimulus based on the growth target, neither missing nor over-achieving it,” said Larry Hu, a China economist at Macquarie.

Leading gains onshore were rare earth, battery, and new energy shares, up 4.6%, 4.3%, and 3%, respectively.

Northern Rare Earth hit the 10% daily maximum after its first-quarter net profit more than doubled year-on-year.

Onshore semiconductor shares fell 1.1% after Reuters reported that the US Department of Commerce last week ordered multiple chip-equipment companies to halt certain tool shipments to China’s second-largest chipmaker, Hua Hong, in its latest action to slow the country’s development of advanced chips.

China’s factory activity likely grew at a slower pace in April as rising cost pressures stemming from the Middle East conflict test Beijing’s reliance on manufacturing to underpin economic growth.

The CSI Bank Index fell 0.8% after Reuters reported China’s central bank has instructed some commercial banks to expand loan issuance in April, said sources with knowledge of the matter, as authorities seek to prevent a sharp slowdown in credit growth at a time of rising external economic risks.

Tech majors listed in Hong Kong were up 1.1%. ‑Reuters