Hong Kong stocks rose as investors cheered the introduction of guidelines to help state-owned companies boost their values and the halving of service fees for dividend payouts.
The Hang Seng Index gained 1.1 per cent to 19,917.29 on Wednesday. The Hang Seng Tech Index added 1.96 per cent. On the mainland, the Shanghai Composite Index strengthened 0.99 per cent.
The gains were led by mainland Chinese carmakers. Li Auto jumped 5.6 per cent to HK$90.05 and Geely Auto added 3.1 per cent to HK$15.52. On-demand delivery giant Meituan advanced 1.39 per cent and smartphone maker Xiaomi added 2.2 per cent to HK$30.60.
The State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, China’s state assets watchdog, late on Tuesday issued guidelines aimed at helping state-owned enterprises (SOEs) unlock market value of their listed units. The guidelines also included proposals on mergers and acquisitions, market-oriented reforms, information disclosure and stock buy-backs.
The Hang Seng China Central SOEs Index, which tracks companies with state-owned enterprises as their largest shareholders, rose 0.8 per cent. China Unicom rose 2.3 per cent to HK$7.18, while PetroChina increased 1.4 per cent to HK$5.85.
China Securities Depository and Clearing, which is responsible for all securities depository and clearing services for the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges, said in a statement late on Tuesday that it would reduce the service fee charge for dividend payout to 0.05 per cent from 0.1 per cent, capping it at 1.5 million yuan (US$206,000). The measure come into effect from January 1.
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