Hong Kong stocks jump on BYD earnings boost while Alibaba, Tencent advance as China signals significant GDP rebound

BYD followed CNOOC in boosting market confidence with better corporate earnings guidance as the Q3 reporting season kicks in

China’s GDP ‘rebounded significantly’ last quarter, planning agency NDRC said, even as the statistics bureau delayed its publication

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A man touches a bull statue outside a retail mall in Beijing in March 2020. Photo: AP

Published: 10:23am, 18 Oct 2022Updated: 4:43pm, 18 Oct 2022

Hong Kong stocks advanced for a third day as China signalled growth recovered last quarter amid signs of better corporate earnings. Global market sentiment improved after the UK abandoned nearly all of the tax cuts that roiled investors in the past few weeks.

The Hang Seng Index jumped 1.8 per cent to 16,914.58 at the close of Tuesday trading to claw its way further up from the lowest level in 11 years. The Tech index surged 4.3 per cent while the Shanghai Composite Index retreated 0.1 per cent. Markets in Japan, Australia and South Korea also rallied.

BYD surged 5.9 per cent to HK$204.40 after the electric-car maker said its third-quarter profit probably jumped more than threefold thanks to record sales. The report followed an earlier signal from oil giant CNOOC, whose earnings are likely to have more than doubled in the first nine months of this year.

Tech stocks tracked overnight gains in US equities, as Alibaba Group and JD.com both jumped nearly 4 per cent to HK$76.10 and HK$178.70, respectively. Tencent appreciated 2.9 per cent to HK$254.40, while Meituan gained 2.8 per cent to HK$153.90.

“China’s economy performance is likely to show a slow but steady recovery with easier monetary policies,” strategists at Beijing-based Capital Securities said in a research note on Tuesday.

China’s economic growth “rebounded significantly” in the third quarter and remained “outstanding” when compared with the rest of the world, the nation’s top economic planning agency, the National Development and Reform Commission, said on Monday. The data, due for release on Tuesday, has been delayed without a reason.

The economy grew 0.4 per cent in the second quarter as Covid-19 curbs hit manufacturing, slowing from a 4.8 per cent expansion in the first three months of 2022, government data showed.

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