SHANGHAI: China and Hong Kong stocks ended mostly positive territory on Wednesday, with some key indexes finishing at multi-week highs, led by gains in developers on rising hopes that the Chinese government would roll out supportive measures to prop up the country’s ailing property sector. ** At the close, the benchmark Shanghai Composite index climbed 0.5% to record the highest closing price since July 20, while the blue-chip CSI 300 index was up 0.9%, the loftiest close since July 28.

In Hong Kong, the benchmark Hang Seng Index advanced 0.5%, while Chinese H-shares listed in Hong Kong gained 0.4%.

The property sector was among the top gainers after sources told Reuters that China would guarantee new onshore bond issues by a few select private developers to support its embattled property sector, while the state planner said it would boost economic demand and speed up infrastructure projects.

The CSI real estate index jumped 3.52%. However, Chinese developers listed in Hong Kong gave back all intraday gains to ease 0.24% by the end of the session, as some analysts and economists said the policy support was far from enough.

“The policy response to the deteriorating property sector may be too slow and uncoordinated in the lead-up to the once-in-a-decade political reshuffle,” said Lu Ting, chief China economist at Nomura.