Stock Talk | Market Wrap: Hang Seng posts longest winning streak since Jan 2011

Hong Kong stocks closed flat on Friday as gains by automakers and home appliances firms were capped by the mainland central bank’s comment that no major economic stimulus measures were in the pipeline.

The benchmark Hang Seng Index added 33.05 points, or 0.15 per cent, to close at 21,551.76. This is the longest winning streak for the gauge since January 2011.

China’s government would not provide big economic stimulus and a strong rebound in growth was unlikely, Song Guoqing, an adviser to the People’s Bank of China, said in a speech on Thursday.

The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index, which tracks the performance of Hong Kong-listed Chinese firms, added 47.36 points, or 0.45 per cent, to finish at 10,683.61.

Yet funds continued to flow out of save-haven sectors like utility firms, reflecting a rising appetite for risk in the market based on speculation that the China’s economy is bottoming out.

“With money supply and credit growth already on the rise, we think monetary policy will stay largely unchanged, [and there will be] no further adjustment in the overall credit quota,” UBS economist Wang Tao said in a research note. The recovery path for the Chinese economy would be “L-shaped”, he said.