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Hong Kong stock market
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Alibaba, JD.com’s 12 per cent surge lifts Hong Kong stocks to best week since 2011 as mainland China funds load up amid zero-Covid speculation

  • Mainland funds have bought US$3.8 billion worth of shares in Hong Kong this week, adding to US$3.6 billion of inflows last week
  • Global bankers showed optimism in Hong Kong’s role as a super-connector to China’s financial markets during an investment summit

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Pedestrians walk past a stock ticker displaying the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong on October 11, 2022. Photo: EPA-EFE
Jiaxing Li
Hong Kong stocks logged the biggest weekly gain in 11 years as mainland China funds added positions, shrugging off concerns about higher interest rates and economic slowdown. Another round of speculation about the end of Beijing’s zero-Covid policy helped fan the rally.
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The Hang Seng Index surged 5.4 per cent to 16,161.14 at the close of Friday trading. The Tech Index jumped 7.5 per cent, while the Shanghai Composite Index gained 2.4 per cent. An index tracking US-listed Chinese stocks jumped 3.2 per cent overnight in New York.

Alibaba Group Holding led the rally, surging 11.5 per cent to HK$70.25, and Tencent surged 7.8 per cent to HK$238.60. JD.com advanced 12.5 per cent to HK$171.50 and Meituan jumped 5.4 per cent to HK$149.20. Macau casino operator Sands China climbed 4.8 per cent to HK$16.98. The Tracker Fund added 5.3 per cent to HK$16.23.

Today’s rally lifted the Hang Seng Index to an 8.7 per cent gain for the week - the biggest five-day advance since October 2011- and helped narrow the benchmark’s decline this year to about 30 per cent. The Shanghai benchmark surged 5.1 per cent for the week, the most since July 2020.

Mainland funds have scooped up HK$30 billion (US$3.8 billion) worth of stocks listed in Hong Kong this week, according to Stock Connect data. They were net buyers of HK$28.1 billion last week, the biggest inflow over the past year, according to Goldman Sachs.

“The market is now at a 13-year low and a lot of mainland investors are bottom-fishing in Hong Kong to find great value,” said Dickie Wong, executive director at Kingston Securities.

Stocks extended a rally after a former state health official predicted an imminent end to Beijing’s zero-Covid policy in an unverified transcript from a closed-door conference in Hong Kong. A similar rumour on the subject also fuelled stock gains earlier this week.
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