SHANGHAI: Chinese stocks rose on Thursday, led by artificial intelligence (AI) shares after US chipmaker Nvidia’s better-than-expected revenue forecast. Hong Kong shares were roughly flat.

China stocks extend rally on market rescue measures

• China’s blue-chip CSI 300 Index was up 0.3% by the lunch break, while the Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.5%. ** Hong Kong benchmark Hang Seng Index edged up 0.2%.

• China’s AI stocks surged nearly 4% before entering the midday break up around 2.4%, after Nvidia on Wednesday forecast a roughly threefold surge in quarterly revenue, beating expectations.

• Cambricon Technologies, one of China’s top AI-related chipmakers, jumped more than 10%.

• Coal and energy shares also rose, with PetroChina up 3%.

• Morgan Stanley equity strategists said in a note that the state-owned enterprises reform theme recently gained investors’ attention as top-down policy focus seems to have returned.

• China Traditional Chinese Medicine Holdings surged more than 20% after a consortium led by state-owned pharmaceutical giant Sinopharm has revived a take-private bid for the company.

• Despite stock market performance improving on a raft of market rescue measures, investor sentiment can still be fragile without a material pickup in economic activities.

• “Offshore investors in general remain cautious. They believe the recent rebound is mainly driven by short-covering and bearishness ahead of the Lunar New Year,” said analysts at UBS, adding that the property downturn and deflation remain major concerns.

• Meanwhile, Chinese hedge fund managers are scrambling to soothe investors after a rout in small-value stocks, even as regulators step up scrutiny of major market players’ activities as they try to revive the country’s ailing stock markets.