Hong Kong stocks rebound on PBOC’s US$70 billion finance facility, fiscal stimulus hopes
The Chinese central bank’s liquidity boosting tool sparks a 3.2 per cent surge in Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index
Hong Kong and Chinese
stocks both rebounded from sell-offs after China’s central bank kicked off a US$70 billion financing facility to fund institutional buying and traders’ bets on more fiscal stimulus to shore up growth.
The Hang Seng Index jumped 3.2 per cent to 21,303.65 as of 10.39am local time, set to snap a two-day, 11 per cent decline. The Hang Seng Tech Index gained 2.3 per cent.
The CSI 300 Index rose 1.1 per cent, bouncing back from a 7.1 per cent slump a day earlier. The Shanghai Composite Index added 1.2 per cent.
Sentiment on the Hong Kong and mainland’s markets stabilised after the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) started the swap facility with an initial size of 500 billion yuan (US$70.7 billion). Under the programme, qualified brokerages, mutual-fund firms and insurance companies will be able to swap their holdings of bonds, stock exchange-traded funds as collaterals for government bonds and central bank bills, the PBOC said in a
statement on Thursday. The size can be expanded and applications from qualified institutional will be accepted immediately, it said
The swap facility is part of a combined 800 billion yuan in financial tools announced by the PBOC last month to boost liquidity on the stock market. The package also includes a 300 billion yuan relending programme to fund stock buy-backs and stake increases by listed companies and major shareholders.
Investors will closely scrutinise a press conference by Finance Minister Lan Foan on Saturday. Hopes are high that Lan will announce or offer clues on the much-heralded fiscal stimulus after top leaders signalled an all-out pivot to prop up economic growth.