In This Article:
Hong Kong stocks rose for a third straight week after a government report showed manufacturing in China grew more than expected this month, underpinning bets on recovery momentum. Alibaba Group logged its best week in three months.
The Hang Seng rose 0.5 per cent to 20,400.11 at closing of Friday trading, taking the advance this week to 2.4 per cent and 3.1 per cent for March. The Tech Index gained 0.8 per cent while the Shanghai Composite added 0.3 per cent.
JD.com surged 5.4 per cent to HK$172 after unveiling plans to spin off and list two operating units on the stock exchange. Alibaba strengthened 3.6 per cent to HK$100.40 and while Meituan rose 1.1 per cent to HK$143.50. EV maker BYD climbed 2 per cent to HK$229.80, while Tencent gained 0.2 per cent to HK$385.80.
Do you have questions about the biggest topics and trends from around the world? Get the answers with SCMP Knowledge, our new platform of curated content with explainers, FAQs, analyses and infographics brought to you by our award-winning team.
China's official PMI manufacturing index dropped to 51.9 in March from 52.6 in February, the statistics bureau said on Friday. Still, the reading exceeded the median forecast of 51.5 among economists tracked by Bloomberg. The services index rose to 58.2 from 56.3, versus consensus of 55. Readings above 50 indicate expansion.
"These strong readings suggest China's economy has reached a sweet spot after Beijing abruptly ended its draconian property tightening measures and the unpopular zero-Covid policy," Nomura analysts said in a report. "The real test will be activity data in the second and third quarter" as pent-up demand fades, they added.
The Hang Seng rose almost 6 per cent in a three-week rally, helping enrich investors by HK$1.3 trillion (US$166 billion) in terms of market capitalisation, according to Bloomberg data. Indices tracking Chinese stocks were seven of the top 10 performers in Asia-Pacific during the period.
The benchmark advanced 3.1 per cent for the quarter, following a zero-Covid pivot and China reopening rally of 14.9 per cent in the preceding three months.
Alibaba, the owner of this newspaper, soared 18 per cent this week, the most since the week ending January 6. Investors chased the stock after its March 28 plan to split the e-commerce empire into six key units, while co-founder Jack Ma returned to mainland China. The news boosted its market value by a combined US$45 billion in Hong Kong and New York.
Apart from recovery signals, "there have also been more intensified signals of pro-business policymaking, exemplified by Alibaba's restructuring plan," Morgan Stanley analysts said in a report.