Hong Kong stocks edged higher, trimming a weekly decline, as a rebound in property sales in China spurred optimism about the growth outlook.
The Hang Seng Index rose 1% at noon, paring the weekly loss to 0.4%. Xinyi Solar Holdings paced the gain on expectations that China will take action to tackle overcapacity in the industry and the US will cut tariffs on some imported photovoltaic products. The Hang Seng Tech Index gained 1.9%.
GCL Technology rose 22%, Xinyi Solar rose 20%, Geely Automobile rose 8.8%, WuXi Biologics rose 7.4%, Li Auto rose 6%, SMIC rose 3%, Alibaba rose 2.2%, JD.com rose 1.7%.
In an encouraging sign for the economy, residential presales for 30 key cities in China rose by 22% from the previous seven-day period of a high base last week, according to financial data provider Wind. First-tier cities led the increase across the country, with sales rising 27% last week, the data shows. In the previous week, nationwide sales jumped 58% week on week.
A decline in the US Treasury yields, which had recently been driven up by the fading hope of an aggressive interest-rate cut and the rising odds of Donald Trump winning the presidential election, also stirred buying interest.
“Given policymakers’ resolve to save the property market with a slew of strong new measures announced since late September, we believe China homebuyers’ confidence in the property market has improved markedly,” said Raymond Cheng, managing director at CGS International Securities in Hong Kong. “We expect monthly industry sales in the fourth quarter to register year-on-year growth. For 2025, we think industry sales could see positive year-on-year growth for the first time since 2022.”
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