Hong Kong stocks halt 5-day slide amid positive China data on retail sales, home prices

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Retail sales growth of 4.8 per cent and a slower decline in home prices raise hopes that stimulus measures are arresting a slowdown

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People walk in a popular outdoor shopping mall in Beijing on November 14, 2024. Photo: AP

Zhang Shidongin Shanghai

Published: 10:29am, 15 Nov 2024Updated: 12:20pm, 15 Nov 2024

Hong Kong stocks rose to halt a five-day decline after official Chinese government reports showed that retail sales in October grew at the fastest pace since February and a decline in home prices slowed, indicating that Beijing’s attempts to put a floor under economic growth are working.

The Hang Seng Index climbed 0.3 per cent to 19,486.97 at the noon break, set to end a loss of 7.2 per cent over the past five days. The benchmark has dropped 6 per cent this week, the most in a month. The Hang Seng Tech Index gained 0.9 per cent.

Mainland’s benchmarks dropped. The CSI 300 Index and the Shanghai Composite Index both lost 0.4 per cent.

Online game operator NetEase surged after reporting revenue that exceeded analysts’ estimates. E-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding wavered before its earnings release later on Friday. Tempering gains, Geely Automobile slumped after agreeing to buy an unprofitable Chinese electric-vehicle maker.

Retail sales, a key indicator of consumption, increased by 4.8 per cent year on year last month, the fastest pace since February, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Friday. That beat the consensus estimate of 3.8 per cent growth by economists tracked by Bloomberg. Industrial production and fixed-asset investment both missed the consensus projection.

A separate report released earlier on the same day by the agency showed that new home prices in 70 cities fell 0.5 per cent month on month in October, the least in seven months.

The improvement in China’s economic data may provide some relief to stocks amid a stalled rebound on disappointment over Beijing’s failure to introduce forceful fiscal stimulus and Donald Trump’s re-election. Stocks earlier rallied after Beijing introduced a slew of monetary easing and measures to prop up the property market, reducing mortgage rates, deed taxes and lifting home-purchase restrictions.