SHANGHAI: China stocks jumped on Friday, tracking gains in global markets after US banks moved to rescue embattled First Republic Bank, while investors also cheered signs of an economic recovery in China.
China’s blue-chip CSI300 Index closed up 0.5%, while the Shanghai Composite Index jumped 0.7%.
Hong Kong’s benchmark Hang Seng Index advanced 1.6%, while the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index surged 2.1%.
For the week, CSI 300 Index slid 0.2% and Hang Seng Index rose 1.0%.
Asian markets extended a risk rally on Wall Street to end a tumultuous week that saw a brewing banking crisis send bond yields plunging.
Large US banks on Thursday injected $30 billion in deposits into First Republic Bank, swooping in to rescue the lender.
Foreign investors snapped up Chinese shares on Friday, with the overseas net buying via the Stock Connect surpassing 7 billion yuan ($1 billion) and logging the biggest daily inflow since early February. This week’s overseas net buying totalled nearly 15 billion yuan ($2.2 billion).
China’s CSI 300 Real Estate Index climbed 0.9% amid signs the country’s property market is stabilising.
“Post last week’s less-encouraging NPC targets, investor sentiment has started to recover as macro data for January and February came in sanguine and confirmed that China’s strong growth rebound is on track,” Morgan Stanley analysts said in a note, adding that China’s recovery is on track and intact.
Hong Kong-listed shares of search engine giant Baidu surged 13.7%, recouping losses suffered a day earlier after the launch of its artificial intelligence-powered Ernie bot.