HONG KONG: Hong Kong stocks surged more than three percent Tuesday morning, while Shanghai also advanced after China’s premier called for more measures to boost the country’s flagging markets.

The Hang Seng Index jumped 3.18 percent, or 475.31 points, to 15,436.49. The Shanghai Composite Index added 0.12 percent, or 3.18 points, to 2,759.52, and the Shenzhen Composite Index on China’s second exchange gained 0.68 percent, or 10.94 points, to 1,622.20.

The gains came after it emerged that Premier Li Qiang called for more “forceful” measures to support China’s battered stocks and give a shot in the arm to investor confidence.

Hong Kong has lost around 10 percent since the turn of the year and Shanghai more than seven percent on worries that officials were not doing enough to help the economy, which grew last year at its slowest pace since 1990, outside the pandemic years.

China, HK stocks tumble amid foreign outflows

Authorities are looking at a raft of initiatives, Bloomberg reported, adding that policymakers were seeking to mobilise nearly $280 billion, mainly from the offshore accounts of state-owned enterprises.

“It sounds like something had been readied in response to the recent equity rout,” Neo Wang, at Evercore ISI, said.

“The market was poor enough to warrant such elevated attention – China cannot afford to see A-shares sinking toward the Lunar New Year holidays.”