Hong Kong shares climbed 1.60 percent Thursday following more strong jobs figures from the United States and thanks to bargain buying after the index suffered a sell-off in the previous session. The benchmark Hang Seng Index added 321.36 points to end at 20,468.67 on turnover of HK$48.37 billion ($6.24 billion). The market fell 2.48 percent on Wednesday on growing fears about China's economy, which has shown signs of slowing this year.
Those worries were exacerbated Monday with another round of weak manufacturing data. However, Wall Street ended in positive territory in shortened trade Wednesday ahead of the July 4 Independence Day holiday. US payrolls firm ADP estimated that 188,000 private-sector jobs were generated in June, up from its May reading of 134,000 and above the 137,000 average for March-May.
And the Labour Department said weekly new claims for unemployment compensation, a signal of the pace of layoffs, fell to 343,000 in the week ending Friday, 5,000 below the previous week. The Dow rose 0.38 percent, the S&P 500 edged up 0.08 percent and the Nasdaq added 0.30 percent. Chinese companies fared particularly well on the Hong Kong stock exchange after weeks of selling pressure. ICBC rose 2.4 percent to HK$4.67 and China Shenhua Energy climbed 5.5 percent to HK$19.22. Energy firms also benefited from rising oil prices. CNOOC jumped 2.1 percent to HK$12.80 and PetroChina rose 1.8 percent to HK$8.96.
HSBC jumped 1.57 percent to HK$81.05 while Bank of China rose 0.99 percent to HK$3.05 Chinese shares ended up 0.59 percent. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index rose 11.83 points to 2,006.10 on turnover of 82.7 billion yuan ($13.5 billion). Investors are moving back into the market after last week's big losses that were fuelled by a liquidity crisis. However, while the People's Bank of China stepped in to ease concerns over a cash crunch the lingering worries about the broader economy continue to hang over sentiment.
"Property stocks and resources shares rebounded on low valuations and pushed up the index," Haitong Securities analyst Zhang Qi told AFP. "But in order to see continued gains in the market, it will require sustained capital flows into blue-chip shares," he added. Rising Nonferrous Metals surged by its 10 percent daily limit to 39.91 yuan, while Baotou Steel Rare-Earth jumped 7.11 percent to 21.40 yuan.
Datong Coal Industry also added 10 percent to 6.25 yuan and Yanzhou Coal Mining rose 2.94 percent to 9.44 yuan. Developer Gemdale gained 4.81 percent to 6.97 yuan and Poly Real Estate rose 2.90 percent to 9.94 yuan. Dairy producers advanced after state media said this week the government was investigating alleged price-fixing by foreign firms in the industry. Beijing Sanyuan Foods jumped 4.60 percent to 5.91 yuan while Bright Dairy & Food gained 0.51 percent to 15.85 yuan.
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