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SHANGHAI — China shares edged up on Tuesday led by energy and renewable energy stocks, while gains were capped as COVID-19 outbreaks and tensions with the United States weighed on sentiment.
The CSI300 index rose 0.3% to 4,159.36 at the end of the morning session, while the Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.3% to 3,246.95.
The Hang Seng index added 0.9% to 20,228.71. The Hong Kong China Enterprises Index gained 1.0% to 6,886.34.
** Energy rose 3%, with coal miners up 3.4%.
** New energy shares added 2.8%, with photovoltaic firms surging 4.2% and new energy cars up 1.5%.
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** Data showed China’s overall passenger car sales in July jumped 20.1% from a year earlier to 1.84 million, and sales of electric cars accounted for 26.4% of the total and increased 117.3%.
** However, semiconductors and healthcare stocks lost more than 1%, each.
** Chinese chipmakers posted biggest gains in two years last week, as House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan heightened tensions with the U.S.
** About 20 Chinese and Taiwanese navy boats held close to the median line of the Taiwan Strait on Tuesday, a source said.
** “Sustained policy support and an improving macroeconomic environment are supportive of a gradual recovery in Chinese equities,” Carlos Casanova, senior economist, Asia at UBP, said in a note.
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** However, “that does not preclude potential downside risks, which are predominantly concentrated around China’s ‘Dynamic Zero-COVID’ strategy,” he added.
** China reported COVID-19 outbreaks across the country on Tuesday, from growing clusters in tropical Hainan, to Xinjiang in the west and new cases in far-flung Tibet.
** Hong Kong may consider waiving extra stamp duty on homes for mainland Chinese buyers, Regina Ip, convenor of the government’s advisory Executive Council told Bloomberg.
** Shares of Hong Kong property developers rose after the comment, with New World Development Co jumping 6.1% and Sun Hung Kai Properties up 3.9%.
(Reporting by Shanghai Newsroom; Editing by Rashmi Aich)
