Hong Kong's stock index rises 1.7% at the open as China's state funds step in to prop up market
The stock indexes of Hong Kong, Shanghai and Shenzhen rose when trading commenced on Tuesday, after several Chinese state funds stepped in to prop up the market, amid signs that the panicked sell-off in global bourses was tapering off.
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The Hang Seng Index opened 1.7 per cent higher at 20,157.52, advancing for the first time in four days, after a rout that wiped out at least HK$194 billion (US$25 billion) in market value. The CSI 300 index, which tracks the 300 largest stocks in Shanghai and Shenzhen, opened 0.2 per cent higher at 3,597.99.
Elsewhere in Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 index rose 1.9 per cent at the open, while the ASX 200 index in Australia opened flat. Stock indexes also rose in Seoul and Wellington, while trading was mixed in Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.
Central Huijin Investment, a unit of China's US$1.2 trillion sovereign wealth fund, bought exchange-traded funds (ETFs) on Monday, intervening in the nation's stock market that is reeling from the mayhem inflicted by reciprocal tariffs from the US.
Central Huijin acquired ETFs and will make more such investments in the future to 'resolutely' maintain the stability of the capital market, the company said yesterday in a
statement on its website, without specifying what the ETFs or the investment were.
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The company was 'firmly' positive on the outlook of China's capital markets and fully acknowledges the allocation values of A shares, or the yuan-denominated stocks trading on China's onshore exchanges, the statement said.
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