China stocks shine in first week of 2023 on economic recovery hopes

Updates to market close

SHANGHAI, Jan 6 (Reuters) – China stocks logged a five-day winning streak on Friday on investors’ expectations that the economy would soon emerge from its COVID woes and stage a robust recovery in 2023.

** China’s blue-chip CSI 300 Index .CSI300 closed up 0.3%, while the Shanghai Composite Index .SSEC added 0.1%.

** Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index .HSI and the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index .HSCE slipped 0.3% and 0.4%, respectively, after rising in the previous four sessions.

** For the week, the CSI 300 Index gained 2.8%, while the Hang Seng benchmark advanced 6.1% to touch a six-month high.

** Other Asian equities also gained, while the dollar hovered near a one-month high as investors braced for crucial U.S. jobs data later in the day that should provide clues on how aggressive the Federal Reserve will be in tightening policy.

** “A-share sentiment recovered steadily post new year,” said Morgan Stanley analysts in a note.

** “We expect nationwide infections to peak in January … an earlier peak in infection cases implies earlier normalization in economic activity. We thus expect the economy to start a strong recovery in 2Q23,” J.P.Morgan analysts wrote in a note.

** Foreign investors bought a net 20 billion yuan ($2.9 billion) of Chinese stocks via the Stock Connect Scheme this week, the biggest weekly purchase amount since Dec. 2.

** As COVID curbs have been scrapped, China expects the total number of passenger trips made by travellers during the upcoming Lunar New Year to reach 2.1 billion this year, double from last year’s 1.05 billion during the same period.

** New energy shares .CSI399808 added 3.2% to lead the gains, while tourism .CSI930633, healthcare .CSIHCSI lost 2.3% and 0.9%, respectively.

** Tech giants listed in Hong Kong .HSTECH declined 1.4% as some investors booked profits after recent gains, with Meituan 3690.HK down 4.3% as the biggest drag on the Hang Seng benchmark.

** Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Mainland Properties Index .HSMPI rose 1.7%, lifted by more state support for the highly indebted sector struggling with weak sales and investments as China reopens its economy.

** Morgan Stanley said Chinese equities would likely lead global stock market performance in 2023, and advised investors to be overweight on China within global equity portfolios with a skew towards the offshore space.

(Reporting by Shanghai Newsroom
Editing by Vinay Dwivedi and Gareth Jones)

((Jason.Xue@thomsonreuters.com))