China Markets Live - Mainland and Hong Kong stocks settle higher after severe rout

Welcome to SCMP.com's live coverage of China's stock markets. One of the most volatile trading weeks in Hong Kong and mainland stocks draws to a close with investors still not yet convinced that the weeks-long rout in equities is completely over. We'll bring you updates as they happen on key price levels, the biggest fallers and gainers and other important trading data, as well as breaking news and expert opinion on significant developments.

4:15pm: The Hong Kong market was driven by property-banking conglomerate Citic and Chinese insurance giants China Life and Ping An Insurance.

4:15pm: Only 7 out of 50 stocks in Hang Seng Index closed in the red, with snack food maker Want Want China being the biggest faller, shedding 2.1 per cent to HK$8.06.

4:15pm: The H-share Index shot up 3.6 per cent to 11,858.55, led by an 11 per cent rally in Shenzhen-based eletric car maker BYD.

4:15pm: For the week ending July 10, Hang Seng Index gave up 4.46 per cent, while the H-share Index dropped 5.95 per cent.

4:13pm: The Hang Seng Index rebounded for a second day, rising 2.08 per cent to finish at 24,901.28 on Friday.

4:01pm: The Shanghai Composite Index rose 4.54 per cent to close at 3,877.8 on Friday, the highest level since July 2. The benchmark gained 10.31 per cent over the past two days, netting a weekly gain of 5.19 per cent as the stock markets seemed to be stabilizing following market boosting measures from Beijing.

The CSI300 Index jumped 5.68 per cent over the week ended July 10, while the Shenzhen Composite was down 3 per cent over the same period and the ChiNext board retreated 2.69 per cent.

Except a total of 1382 companies on voluntary trading halt, only 7 out of 1300 companies declined on Friday.

More than 1,200 companies were suspended from trading after reaching the daily limit of 10 per cent, while the shares of the country's top-five biggest lenders and the two oil majors posted modest gains for the day.

4:00pm: Haitong Securities has fourth-highest turnover with HK$3.7 billion, gaining 9.1 per cent to $15.08.  

The stock was a hot potato yesterday, taking the turnover top spot with HK$10.95 billion while its share price edged down just 0.58 per cent to HK$13.82.  

It fell 13.2 per cent to HK$13.90 on Tuesday but avoided further losses on Wednesday when it suspended itself from trading.

3:59: In Hong Kong, Green Energy Group leads the percentage gainers at 67 HK cents, 69 per cent up. Its share price spiked this morning, leaping from 40 to 76 HK cents before finishing midsession at 64 HK cents. 

During lunch it was announced that Green Energy Group granted 40 million options to subscribe for shares yesterday, being ordinary shares of 10 HK cents each with an option exercise price of 54.1 HK cents. 

3:24pm: This is the weekly performance of all the Chinese stock indices for the week ending on July 10.

The Shanghai Composite Index rose 5.18 per cent on the week, while CSI300 Index jumped 5.68 per cent.

In contrast, the Shenzhen Composite is down 3 per cent for the week, while the ChiNext board retreated 2.69 per cent.

3:08pm: The Hang Seng Index rose 2.13 per cent to trade at 24,911.38 on Friday, while the H-share Index jumped 4.06 per cent to 11,910.

Trading in Hong Kong shares was about HK$152 billion so far, compared with Thursday's HK$212.71 billion.

3:03pm: The Shanghai Composite Index rose 4.57 per cent to close at 3,878.94. CSI 300 Index added 5.38 per cent to finish at 4107.49.

3:03pm: Shenzhen Composite increased by 4.09 per cent to 2,035.26, while ChiNext board jumped another 4.11 per cent to 2,535.89.

2:30pm: The Shanghai Composite Index is up 5.26 per cent to 3,903.74. The CSI300 Index rose 5.95 per cent to 4,122.91. Shenzhen Composite rose 4.10 per cent to 2,035.46, while ChiNext board added 4.11 per cent to 2,535.89.

2:26pm: Goldwind has gained 15.6 per cent to HK$15.96. The clean power firm was identified by Credit Suisse leading in to today’s trading as a buy stock with target price of HK$24. Also identified was BYD Company which sits at HK$37.55, up 9.3 per cent but well below CS’s target of HK$75. The auto technology company announced the divestment of a subsidiary on Thursday night.

2:07pm: The Shenzhen Composite Index stands at 2,036.60, up 4.16 per cent or 81.25 points. ChiNext is steady at 4.11 per cent up, or 100.13 points, to 2,535.89.

2:06pm: The Hang Seng Index moves up to 24, 952.63, up 2.29 per cent or 559.63 points. The H-shares Index stands at 11,931.50, up 4.23 per cent or 485.13 points.

2:05pm: The Shanghai Composite Index extends gains, up 5.39 per cent or 199.75 points to 3,909.08. The CSI300 Index lifted further to 6.23 per cent or 243.63 points up at 4,140.63.

1:41pm: Shenzhen Composite Index stood at 2,033.66, up 4 per cent or 78.31 points. ChiNext rose 4.11 per cent, or 100.13 points, to 2,535.89.

1:38pm: Shanghai Composite Index up 5.27 per cent or 195.56 points to 3,904.89. CSI300 Index went up by 5.78 per cent, or 225.28 points, to 4,122.91.

1:35PM: Hang Seng Index increases 525.55 points or by 2.15 per cent to 4,918.34 points. H-shares Index stood at 11,922.19, up 4.16 per cent or 475.82 points.

1:22pm: Just resuming trading in Hong Kong after suspension are Ruifeng Renewable Energy, up 28 per cent to HK$1.08; Dongjiang Environmental, up 21 per cent to HK$14.30; and E-Rental Car, up 19 per cent to 39 HK cents.

1:21pm: The SCMP midday stock market report.

1:13pm: Shenzhen Composite Index stood at 2,030.56 at the start of the afternoon session, up 3.85 per cent or 75.20 points. 

1:13pm: ChiNext rose 3.97 per cent, or 96.68, to 2,532.43 at the start of the afternoon session.

1:11pm: Shanghai Composite Index opened the afternoon session at 3,886.15, up 4.76 per cent or 176.82 points.

1:11pm: CSI300 Index went up by 5.39 per cent, or 210.28 points to 4,107.91.

1:10pm: Hang Seng Index started afternoon trade at 24, 924.10, up  2.18 per cent or  531,31 points.

12:23pm: Of 1,125 companies on the Shanghai Composite index, 732 are trading up, 392 are unchanged and just one is down – Jilin Chengcheng Group the odd one out, its share price declining by 0.22 per cent. 

Of 1,600 companies on the Shenzhen Composite index, 733 are up, 867 are unchanged and none are down. As reported earlier, 48 per cent of all A-share companies remain suspended from trading.

12:22pm: Northbound trade of stock market connect which international investors use to trade A-shares in Shanghai via HKEx has a  turnover of 5.28 billion yuan, with 3.13 billion yuan of sell orders and 2.15 billion yuan of buy orders.  

Southbound trade of the scheme that allow mainlanders to buy Hong Kong stocks has a turnover of HK$5.09 billion, with HK$3.35 billion in buying orders and HK$1.74 billion are sell orders.

12:06pm: The mainland board market turnover stood at HK$93.81 billion, and the GEM turnover at HK$931 million. 

12:05pm: Hang Seng Index closed in the morning session at 24,910.28 , up 2.12 per cent or 517.49 points. 

12:05pm: H-shares Index finished morning trading at 11,939.99, up 4.31 per cent or 493.62 points.

11.54am: Interesting views from social media users on China's stock market volatility:

11:48am: China insurer Ping An has leapt to the top of the turnover rankings in Hong Kong with HK$3.3 billion so far. The stock has gained 5.53 per cent to HK$96.35, just above its Monday closing price, and is currently leading the charge on Hang Seng’s H-share index. 

On the flagship Hang Seng Index, Citic is the top percentage gainer with 6.8 per cent, followed by Ping An and China Life, up 4.9 per cent. Ten HSI stocks are negative, including HSBC, AIA and – in last place – Want Want China, down 2.7 per cent.

11:43am: Shenzhen Composite Index rose by 78.25 points or 4  per cent by the morning close to 2,033.60. ChiNext also jumped by 4.11 per cent in the morning trade, or 100.04 points, to 2,535.79.

11:38am: Shanghai Composite Index finished the morning session 5.16 per cent or 191.56 points higher, to 3,900.89. CSI300 Index up by 5.78 per cent or 225.61 points to 4,123.24.

11:35am: Hang Seng Index up 1.72 per cent to 24,812.84, up 420.05 points. H-shares Index rose 3.44 per cent or 394.26 points to 11,840.63.

11:28am: Petrochina has shrugged off news that it will pay 200 million yuan to clean up after a pipeline spill in Dalian, gaining 5.75 per cent in Shanghai and 1.1 per cent in Hong Kong. 

Meanwhile, CNOOC is up 2 per cent and Sinopec just 1 per cent in Hong Kong. Sinopec Oilfield Service Corporation has done better, gaining 9.4 per cent in Hong Kong and 8.3 per cent in Shanghai after it issued details of its operational growth in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

11:24am: China Scurrilities Finance Corporation has pumped in at least 400 billion yuan to boost the market over the latest two trading days, financial magazine Caixin reports.

Apart of the central bank, commercial banks including the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and Citic Bank have all provided financing to the state-backed margin financing company.    

11:21am: Shenzhen Composite Index rose by 4.09 per cent, or 79.97 points, to 2,035.32. ChiNext also went up further by 4.11 per cent, or 100.10 points to 2,535.85.

11:16am: Shanghai Composite Index increases 5.62 per cent, or 208.43 points, to 3,917.76. CSI300 Index goes up by 6.26 per cent, or 244.23 points to 4,141.86.

11:13am: Hang Seng Index up 1.99 per cent or 485.38 points to 24,878.17. H-shares Index also continued to rise by 4.08 per cent or 466.90 points to 11,913.27.

11:08am: A majority of Chinese trustees have ceased their so-called “umbrella trust” businesses, which allow for more leverage than brokerage financing to bet on stocks, while others have called an end to all their investments in equities amid mounting risks, China Securities Daily reports.  

11:02am: A total of 60 A-share companies – including 33 listed in Shanghai and 27 in Shenzhen -- resumed trading on Friday but there are still 1,340 firm, or 48 per cent of all A-shares companies that have voluntarily suspended trading of their shares. 

Among them, 1,002 are listed in Shenzhen and 338 are in Shanghai.

10:57am: Stocks exerting the most positive influence on Hang Seng’s H-share index are ICBC, which is trading up 3.8 per cent on yesterday, China Life, up 4.4 per cent, and Bank of China, up 3.5 per cent. No index constituents are pulling downwards at the moment.

Among H-shares with market capitalization exceeding HK$1 billion, Launch Tech is up the most, gaining 20 per cent to HK$18. Shanghai IT company Jiao Withub is the most buoyant H-share, up 50 per cent, while Tianjin Jinran Public Utilities trails at the rear, down 5.8 per cent.

10:54am: In Hong Kong, turnover now exceeds HK$1 billion for Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing, Ping An, Tencent, Haitong Securities, ICBC, China Construction Bank and BOC – and all have improved their share price.

Volume is dominated by CCT Land which has moved 3.4 billion shares, currently going for 2.9 HK cents apiece. Yesterday, substantial shareholder CCT Fortis offloaded 4.77 per cent of CCT Land’s shares for 2.46 HK cents each in a HK$82.5 million sale.

10:53am: Shenzhen Composite Index vaults higher by 4.18 per cent, or 81.87 points, to 2,037.06. ChiNext also up by 4.11 per cent, or 100.13 points to 2,535.89.

10:52am: China Orient Asset Management Corporation bought one million shares of its listed brokerages Dong Xing Securities, as one the first state-owned asset managers joining the authorities’ attempts to prop up the market. official Xinhua news agency reports. 

10:50am: Credit Suisse say stocks are starting to look cheap again. Hong Kong listed mainland firm or H-share stocks, in particular, have forward looking price to earning ratios of only 8.2 times, comparing favourable against a 15 times ratio for the same company stocks on the mainland, write analysts at the Swiss based bank.  

“This should start to appeal to contrarian investors, particularly to institutional investors, (even domestic ones who will take advantage of the valuation gap between H- and A-shares) who are less volatile than retail investors."

10:48am: Shanghai Composite Index surged in a recovery rally by going up 6.02 per cent to 3,932.63. CSI300 Index also up by 6.76 per cent, or 263.53 points to 4,161.

10:43am: Hang Seng Index gains 479.40 points or by 1.87 per cent to 24,872.19. H-shares Index also continued to rise by 3.68 per cent or 421.56 points to 11,867.93.

10:38am: ING analysts are hopeful that the panic is over following Thursday gains. 

“The unprecedented and steady rollout of market- and non-market-based measures to support the stock market may have halted the panic. We agree with the IMF’s (International Monetary Fund) Olivier Blanchard, who, in discussing the organization’s unchanged 6.8 per cent 2015 growth forecast for China, said: “The puncture of what had clearly become a stock market bubble may have some limited effect on spending. But, for the moment, the slowdown in growth is primarily led by a slowdown in real estate investment, a development we see as basically desirable. There is no particular reason to have lost confidence…” in China because of the bursting bubble. 

ING has revised its China 2015 inflation forecast to 1.3 per cent from 1 per cent, and the bank expects China’s central bank to make another 25 basis points rate cut and a further 50 basis points bank reserve ratio requirement cut this quarter. 

10:32am: It seems Rabobank analysts remain sceptical about Thursday’s rebound in the mainland markets:

“China managed to stage an impressive equity rebound yesterday. One could call it a dead cat bounce, but we don’t even have an entire cat, so it was more parts of a dead cat bouncing, aided by news that anyone caught selling short would be arrested. To say that doesn’t look sustainable is an understatement, especially with PPI (Producer Price Index) slipping to -4.8 per cent (Year-on-Year), and CPI (Consumer Price Index) edging up to 1.4 per cent only on vegetable prices.”

Watch: How global markets reacted to China's rebound on Thursday

10:11am: Shenzhen Composite Index rose by 3.92 per cent, or 76.66 points, to 2,032.02. ChiNext jumped by 4.1 per cent, or 99.91 points to 2535.66. 

10:10am: Shanghai Composite Index climbs 4.09 per cent or 151.87 points to 3,861.20. CSI300 Index increases 4.84 per cent, or 188.62 points to 4,086.25.

10:08am: Hang Seng Index rises 1.84 per cent, or 448.10 points to 24,840.89. H-shares Index surges 3.24 per cent, or 370.41 points to 11,816.78.

10:06am: Onshore yuan strengthened to 6.2076, the strongest in a week while off shore yuan stood at 6.2123, having recovered from the weakest level this month on Wednesday at 6.2290.

10:00am: Cinderella Media, on the other hand, has not enjoyed her return to the ball, dropping 18.7 per cent to HK$2.70. Yesterday, the advertising and media firm announced the sale of 55 per cent of its share capital for consideration representing around HK$2.04 per share.

9:54am: Convoy, which confirmed a share issue yesterday, and Concord, which announced an MOU for the acquisition of a wind power project, are also doing well, posting gains in the mid-30 percentile range.

9:52am: People’s Bank of China set the mid-price for the onshore yuan at 6.1153, weaker by 2 basis points from the Thursday level.

9:50am: Chinasoft gets an early boost on its resumption, jumping 38 per cent to HK$3.51. Chinasoft has been getting on with business while suspended: yesterday afternoon it announced it would acquire of Huawei’s 40 per cent stake in a joint venture company the two had set up.

9.45am: China’s insurance regulator said the country’s insurers have bought a total of 112.3 billion yuan ($18.09 billion) of equity since the stock market rout in the latest attempt by Beijing to calm investor sentiment.

Insurers have invested 57.4 billion yuan in equity and 54.8 billion yuan in equity funds from the start of the market fall till July 8, the China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) reports Reuters, citing the official Shanghai Securities News. 

9:44am: Shenzhen Composite Index opened at 1991.06, then quickly breaks through 2,000 level to 2,022.48, up 3.43 per cent from previous close.

9:44am: ChiNext opened 2.12 per cent higher at 2,487.39, then extend gains to 2,528.26, up 3.8 per cent from previous close.

9:38am: Shanghai Composite Index opened up 1.79 per cent, or 66.38 points to 3,775.71. CSI300 rose 2.31 per cent, or 90 points up, to 3,987.84.

9:37am: China’s securities regulator asked listed companies to submit reports on their measures to prop up shares within two days, 21st Century Business Herald reports.

9:36am: Convoy, Concord, Chinasoft, Dongjiang Environmental, Fast Retailing and Cinderella Media resume trading in Hong Kong this morning.

9:35am: H-shares Index opened up 1.76 per cent, or 201.77 points to 11648.14.

9:34am: Hang Seng Index opened up 1.23 per cent, or 300.68 points to 24,693.47. 

9:33am: Since Hong Kong trading closed yesterday, many companies have issued notices of share repurchases and buy-ups by parent companies, substantial shareholders and staff – both locally and in the mainland.  

Companies receiving investment include Sinopec, Huishan Dairy, China Railway, China Shipping Container Lines, China Shipping Development, United Photovoltaics, Sino Oil and Gas, Huaneng Power, Nanjing Panda, Fuguiniao, Ozner Water and U-Home. 

China Galaxy Securities, GF Securities, Beijing Jingcheng Machinery and Launch Tech announced that buy-ups are planned, while China Life, Yitai Coal and Irico said they would not sell out.

9:08am: CSI300 off to 3,895.62, down two points during pre-opening tender session. 

9:08am: Shanghai Composite Index pre-opening session down 7 points to 3,702.

9:06am: IMF chief economist Olivier Blanchard on the impact of China’s stock rout on the economy:

“The puncture of what had clearly become a stock market bubble may have some limited effect on spending. But, for the moment, the slowdown in growth is primarily led by a slowdown in real estate investment, a development we see as basically desirable. There is no particular reason to have lost confidence.”

Blanchard also cautioned Beijing on intervention: “The government should realise that they cannot achieve some level of stock  prices that they want.”

9:05am: Hang Seng Index futures July contacts down 458 points, or 1.87 per cent to 24,000. 

9:03am: China’s Ministers of Public Security and the China Securities Regulatory Commission have jointly probed more than 10 institutions and individuals allegedly involved in so-called “malicious shorting-selling” of listed blue-chip companies and collected evidence, China Securities Journal website says.  

9:00am: China poses global growth threat.

8:56am: US Funds not bailing on China despite rout in stocks.

8.53am: “Shanghai’s stock market bounced of a technical support level yesterday,” says veteran China-watcher Carl Weinberg of High Frequency Economics.

“We will be watching today for confirmation that a support level has indeed been hit, or for rejection of the model. We are hoping for the best… although we are prepared for the worst!”

8:50am: Excellent at-a-glance view of mainland margin trading concentration when the stock panic hit.

8.30am: US-listed mainland firms see a broad rebound overnight as New York trading tracks the bounce in Shanghai and Hong Kong to deliver double-digit percentage term gains for Weibo Corp, Airmedia Group, Cheetah Mobile Inc, Idreamsky Technology and Jumei International. The largest US-listed exchange-traded fund tracking Chinese stocks gains 20 per cent. Futures prices are mixed, with contracts on the CSE 300 Index up around 10 per cent and Singapore-traded FTSE China A50 Index futures flat.