Mainland China shares outshined Asia with their best day in a month on Friday, while Hong Kong markets snapped a five-day losing streak, as investors cheered local news reports pointing to increased foreign participation in the A-share market. Traders said Hong Kong gains accelerated after investors rushed to cover short positions on exchange-traded funds based on the Hang Seng Index at around 21,800, as the index bounced from Thursday's five-month closing low.
The Hang Seng Index closed up 2.3 percent at 22,013.6, cutting weekly losses to 0.3 percent. The China Enterprises Index of the top Chinese listings in Hong Kong jumped 3.1 percent to 10,587.3 on Friday, but still slipped 0.6 percent this week. Gains on Friday were their best since January 2, their first in six days and came in bourse turnover that despite being the best since April 5, was still only more than half of the year's heaviest on February 4.
The CSI300 of the leading Shanghai and Shenzhen A-share listings closed up 2.8 percent on the day and 2.9 percent on the week at 2,533.8. The Shanghai Composite Index gained 2.1 percent on Friday and 1.7 percent this week. Friday's gains were the best since March 20 for both indexes and elevated them to their highest closing levels since March 27. Shanghai bourse volumes were the best in four weeks, but was still only two-thirds of the year's heaviest on February 4.
The brokerage sector surged after the 21st Century Business Herald reported regulators had resumed taking quota applications under the renminbi qualified foreign institutional investor (RQFII) scheme after a two-month suspension, citing Bosera Asset Management. China's largest-listed brokerage CITIC Securities spiked 7 percent in Hong Kong and 5.5 percent in Shanghai. The smaller Founder Securities soared 8.9 percent in Shanghai and is now up more than 64 percent for the year.
CITIC was further boosted by an upgrade by UBS analysts from "sell" to "neutral", anticipating China's largest listed brokerage will gain market share at the expense of smaller ones and strong growth in its margin financing business. The Chinese banking sector was also a standout outperformer at the end of a week littered with headlines about regulations on the proliferation of wealth management products, local government debt and money laundering.
Part of the problem, traders said, stems from the fact there is a lack of consensus among China's various policy makers, chiefly its central bank and its banking, securities and insurance regulators. Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) jumped 4 percent in its best day since October 11 in Hong Kong, but is still down 4.4 percent for the year. Its Shanghai listing rose 1.2 percent.
Mid-sized lender China Minsheng Bank surged 8.1 percent in Shanghai and 5.6 percent in Hong Kong. First quarter corporate earnings season is due to start next week, with Minsheng's expected next Wednesday. Goldman's strategy team also cut their end-2013 targets for the China Enterprises Index from 13,700 to 12,400 and the CSI300 from 3,000 to 2,800, citing the lower-than-expected first quarter GDP growth figure that China posted earlier this week.
Commodities-related sectors rebounded from multi-month lows following a mild rebound in the physical commodity markets. China's biggest gold miner Zijin Mining rose 2.7 percent in Hong Kong and 1.9 percent in Shanghai. Zijin's Hong Kong shares had on Thursday closed at their lowest since October 2011. It dived 8.8 percent this week, its worst weekly showing in almost a year after a brutal sell-off in the physical gold market earlier this week. Shares of Lenovo Group surged 9.5 percent from Thursday's 5-1/2-month closing low.
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