SHANGHAI: China stocks struggled for direction on Tuesday, with investors mulling over the US Federal Reserve’s hawkish statement and awaiting policy easing after it was flagged by authorities last week.
E-commerce giant Alibaba’s record share repurchase plan, though, lifted Hong Kong’s main benchmark.
The CSI300 index fell 0.1% to 4,255.29 by the end of the morning session, while the Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.1% to 3,258.10.
The Hang Seng index climbed 1.1% to 21,461.33. The Hong Kong China Enterprises Index gained 1.5% to 7,353.96.
** China will give nearly 1 trillion yuan ($157 billion) in tax rebates to domestic small firms to shore up economic stability, state media CCTV quoted a cabinet meeting as saying on Monday.
** The meeting, chaired by Premier Li Keqiang, also said China would take targeted measures to boost market confidence and keep capital market development stable and healthy.
** Weighing on investor sentiment, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell on Monday flagged a more aggressive tightening of monetary policy than previously anticipated, while peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine were slow in progress.
** Onshore-listed shares of China Eastern Airlines slumped 6.5% while those trading in Hong Kong tumbled 5.8%, after a Boeing 737-800 of the company with 132 people on board crashed in mountains in southern China on Monday.
** The accident also sent tourism stocks down by 1.3%. The sector has already been hit by surging domestic COVID-19 cases. ** Mainland China reported 2,338 confirmed coronavirus cases for March 21, compared with 2,027 a day earlier. ** Semiconductors, machinery stocks and new energy firms retreated between 1.2% and 1.4%.
** However, real estate developers jumped 4%, and financials shares went up 1.2%.
** Alibaba Group rose 4.8% and was the biggest index point contributor to the Hang Seng benchmark.
** The company raised its share buyback programme to $25 billion, the largest ever repurchase plan, to prop up its battered shares as it fights off regulatory scrutiny and concerns about slowing growth.
** The Hang Seng Tech Index was up 1.4%.
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