Hong Kong stocks eye policy support announcements as China’s economic outlook dims

Hong Kong stocks made marginal gains on Wednesday, as investors awaited policy announcements from China’s third plenum, amid broadly downbeat views on the outlook for the world’s second-largest economy.

The Hang Seng Index edged up 0.1 per cent to 17,739.41 at closing of trade. The Hang Seng Tech Index advanced 0.5 per cent, while the Shanghai Composite Index added 0.1 per cent.

JD.com added 2.4 per cent to HK$107 while its medical unit JD Health surged 4.1 per cent to HK$21.75. Baidu advanced 0.5 per cent to HK$91.65 and Alibaba gained 1.4 per cent to HK$76.55. Sportswear brand Li Ning jumped 6.3 per cent to HK$15.86 while dairy product maker Mengniu Dairy advanced 45.7 per cent to HK$15.22.

Analysts reacted after China’s National Bureau of Statistics released the sectoral breakdown of the second quarter GDP data on Tuesday.

“In light of new headwinds, including the slump in equity financing and the tightening of tax collection, we hold a cautious view of the second half and expect growth to slow from 5.0 per cent year-on-year in the first half to around 4.2 per cent in the second half,” Ting Lu, chief China economist at Nomura wrote in a note on Wednesday.

“Beijing may be under pressure to announce more measures in coming months, especially after September, when concerns over the growth slowdown may become more elevated.”

Earlier this week, Barclays cut their China GDP forecast to 4.8 per cent from 5 per cent, Goldman Sachs reduced theirs to 4.9 per cent from 5 per cent and JPMorgan downgraded it to 4.7 per cent from 5.2 per cent.