China Stocks rebound on hopes of COVID policy relief

Mainland China share market finished session sharp higher on Tuesday, 29 November 2022, as rumours swirled that recent protests in several Chinese cities might prompt an earlier easing of strict COVID-19 restrictions.

At close of trade, the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index was down 0.75%, or 23.14 points, to 3,078.55. The Shenzhen Composite Index, which tracks stocks on China's second exchange, was down 0.51%, or 10.11 points, to 1,974.07. The blue-chip CSI300 index shed 1.13%, or 42.54 points, to 3,733.24.

Shares of property developers surged after China's securities regulator lifted a six-year ban on equity financing to help reverse a slump in the industry. Poly Developments advanced 9.6% to 17.90 yuan.

Property developers will be allowed to raise funds from private stock sales and sell shares to fund purchases of real-estate assets, the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) said on Monday. Proceeds can be used to buy existing property projects, replenish working capitals and repay debts, it said. The CSRC last froze such financing by developers in July 2016. China earlier unveiled a 16-point support plan to ease a liquidity squeeze among private developers. A rate cut from December 5 is expected to inject US$70 billion of liquidity in the system.

Among individual stocks, Kweichow Moutai gained 5.9% to 1,599 yuan after declaring a special dividend of 27.5 billion yuan. The top liquor distiller also said its controlling shareholder will spend as much as 20% of the dividends to boost its stake in the company.

CURRENCY NEWS: China's yuan advanced against the dollar on Tuesday, inine with stronger mid-point fixing. Prior to market opening on Friday, the People's Bank of China (PBOC) set the midpoint rate CNY=PBOC at 7.1989 per US dollar, stronger than the previous fix 7.2066.

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