05/12/2022 12:54am EDT
SHANGHAI, May 12 (Reuters) - Shanghai stocks gained on Thursday as declining COVID-19 cases and authorities' repeated vows to support the economy lifted investor sentiment, while higher-than-expected U.S. inflation data capped gains.
The CSI300 index fell 0.1% to 3,974.36 at the end of the morning session, while the Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.2% to 3,063.78 points.
The Hang Seng index dropped 1.1% to 19,615.77. The Hong Kong China Enterprises Index lost 1.3% to 6,684.63.
** The number of new COVID-19 cases continued to decline. China reported 1,917 new cases on Wednesday, compared with 1,927 a day earlier.
** China will strive to stabilise the economy and will use various policy tools to support employment, state media quoted the cabinet as saying on Wednesday.
** A senior official of China's Communist Party said China is eyeing new incremental policies to prop up growth and will take steps when necessary.
** "Unless incremental news keeps getting worse, China is currently positioned in a very good place for better performance going forward," said Jian Shi Cortesi, investment director for China and Asian equities at GAM Investments.
** Talking about zero-COVID policy, she said, "the bottom line in my view is that the Chinese government would not allow COVID-19 lockdowns to get to a point that it will derail the economy, and currently the economic impact is still manageable."
** Semiconductors, liquor makers and healthcare companies added roughly 1.5% each, while real estate developers and coal stocks lost more than 1% each.
** Globally, stocks fell as data showed U.S. inflation persistently high, and investors worried about the economic toll of aggressive interest rate hikes to tame it.
** That dragged tech giants trading in Hong Kong to fall 1.5%, with e-commerce behemoth Alibaba Group dropping 4.3% to become the biggest drag of the Hang Seng benchmark.
** Developer Sunac China missed an offshore bond interest payment and said it doesn't expect to make payments coming due on other bonds.
** Mainland developers listed in Hong Kong lost 2%. (Reporting by Shanghai Newsroom; editing by Uttaresh.V)

Sumber : Reuters