China and Hong Kong stocks rose strongly on Tuesday morning, taking cues from a strong overnight rally on Wall Street as fears from Friday’s terrorist attacks in Paris fade.
Investors instead drew optimism from the yuan’s likely inclusion this month into the IMF’s global currency basket, a development seen as beneficial to China’s economy.
The CSI300 index rose 1.5 per cent to 3,819.12 points at the end of the morning session, while the Shanghai Composite Index gained 1.4 per cent to 3,658.07 points.
The Hang Seng index added 2.1 per cent to 22,470.25 points, while the Hong Kong China Enterprises Index gained 2.4 per cent to 10,218.83.
Yuan inclusion in SDR
The market mood appears upbeat on expectations that the IMF will this month approve the inclusion of the yuan, also known as the renminbi, into its $280 billion currency reserve basket, known officially as Special Drawing Rights or SDR.
“The sentiment seems to be rather positive in the market with the SDR news apparently giving investors considerable confidence in the long-term outlook for the economy,’’ said Gerry Alfonso, director of Shenwan Hongyuan Securities Co.
That optimism overwhelmed anxiety about terrorism, which was instead used as a prompt to buy defence stocks, “as the international developments suggest that military expenditure is likely to increase’’, Alfonso said.
All major sectors in China rose, with the exception of tech stocks which corrected after Monday’s surge.
In Hong Kong, shares rose across the board, with energy and IT stocks leading the gains.