Hong Kong stocks halt two-day drop as results from China Merchants Bank, China Resources Land soothe earnings jitters

Traders have a busy few days ahead as they sift through more than 20 annual results from Hang Seng Index members due this week

Developers gained after China’s central bank governor Pan Gongsheng said that some ‘positive signals’ had emerged from the property market

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Hong Kong stocks edged up as better-than-estimated results from China Merchants Bank and China Resource Land allayed concerns about the strength of corporate earnings. Photo: Sun Yeung

Published: 10:31am, 26 Mar 2024Updated: 4:32pm, 26 Mar 2024

Hong Kong stocks rose to snap a two-day decline, as better-than-expected results from China Merchants Bank and China Resource Land allayed jitters about corporate earnings, and China’s central bank governor struck an upbeat tone about the property market.

The Hang Seng Index gained 0.9 per cent to 16,618.32 at the close on Tuesday, ending a 2.3 per cent slide over the past two days. The Hang Seng Tech Index advanced 1 per cent, and the Shanghai Composite Index added 0.2 per cent.

China Merchants Bank surged 4.3 per cent to HK$31.30 and property developer China Resources Land climbed 2.3 per cent to HK$24.85. Baidu rallied 3.7 per cent to HK$104.40 on a media report that its artificial intelligence technology will be applied to Apple’s new products. PetroChina advanced 0.6 per cent to HK$6.50 after its profits rose to a record last year.

“Expectations for corporate earnings are seeing some improvement, but that will offer limited support for the market as China reiterates [there are] no massive stimulus measures to come,” said Fang Yi, an analyst at Guotai Junan Securities in Shanghai. “The market is expected to trade in a tight range for some time after bottoming out.”

Traders have a busy few days ahead as they sift through 26 annual results from Hang Seng Index members due this week, looking for clues as to whether the rebound spurred mainly by state intervention can hold up during the earnings season. They are also waiting for a slew of US economic data that will offer further insights into the next monetary policy moves by the Federal Reserve.