SHANGHAI: China stocks rose on Tuesday, led by semiconductor and internet companies on signs of easing Sino-US tensions after a meeting between US President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping, while Beijing’s latest supportive steps also lifted sentiment.

Stocks mostly rise, dollar up with focus on China, US

** The blue-chip CSI 300 Index was up 1.5% by the end of the morning session, and the Shanghai Composite Index added 1.3%.

** The Hang Seng Index jumped 3.6%, while the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index surged 4.3%.

** A positive sign on the Group of 20 (G20) nations summit was a three-hour bilateral meeting between Biden and Xi, in which the two leaders pledged more frequent communications despite many differences.

** Recent moves by Chinese authorities to ease some COVID curbs and provide financial support to the property market also underpinned sentiment.

** Hong Kong-listed tech giants soared 6.8%, sending their month-to-date gains to more than 30%. Index heavyweights Alibaba, Tencent and Meituan jumped between 7.8% and 11%.

** In mainland markets, semiconductor shares jumped 6.6% and securities firms climbed 3.6%.

** The strong market performance overshadowed concerns over data showing slower Chinese factory output growth and a fall in October retail sales.

** “Economic activities slowed in October due to worsening COVID outbreaks and weak external demand,” said Zhiwei Zhang, chief economist at Pinpoint Asset Management. “As investors are forward looking, the focus in the market is on the change of policies.”

** Several Chinese cities began cutting routine community COVID-19 testing, days after China announced an easing of some of its heavy-handed coronavirus measures, although daily infections had jumped to the highest level since April, when Shanghai was in a two-month citywide lockdown.

** Separately, China’s central bank partially rolled over maturing medium-term policy loans and kept the interest rate unchanged for a third straight month.