China stocks rise on govt pledges of support, Ukraine peace talks hopes

China major stock indexes rose on Thursday, extending a jump from the previous session after the country's top policymaker assured markets of stability and support, while hope for a breakthrough in ceasefire talks between Russian and Ukraine also boosted sentiment.

The CSI300 index rose 2.6 % to 4,263.69 points by 3:07 GMT, while the Shanghai Composite Index gained 2.1 % to 3,236.98 points. The CSI300 had surged 4.3% on Wednesday and the SSEC 3.5%.

The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was up 5.1 %, at 21,114.11, after climbing 9.1% in the previous session. Vice Premier Liu He said on Wednesday after a top level policy meeting that Beijing would roll out more support for the Chinese economy as well as be cautious with measures for capital markets, which helped put a floor under sectors hurt by a prolonged regulatory crackdown.

"With China's top leadership shifting their focus to expectation management, the line in the sand has been drawn.

This may help market find the bottom in the near term," Tommy Xie, vice president and head of Greater China Research at OCBC said in a note to clients, adding a policy rate cut could come before the end of march. "In addition, attractive valuations may also attract long term investors should geopolitical risks not escalate further from here," he said.

Liu also said the government would continue to support local firms that seek to list overseas and China's talks with U.S. regulators on overseas listings have made positive progress.

Tech firms listed in Hong Kong rose more than 6% on Thursday, after a record 22% surge on Wednesday.

Internet giants and index heavyweights Alibaba Group, Tencent Holdings and Meituan rose between 4% and 9%, while video-platform provider Bilibili Inc and search engine giant Baidu Inc jumped more than 14% each.

Mainland developers trading in Hong Kong soared roughly 14%, after the official Xinhua news agency reported late Wednesday that China was putting a planned property tax trial this year on ice, citing the finance ministry. The movement helped ease some concerns of more tightening measures over the squeezed real estate sector, which has slumped for months as Beijing's campaign to reduce high debt levels triggered a liquidity crisis at some major property developers.

Sunac China Holdings led the jump with a 37% gain, while Country Garden Holdings, China's top property developer by sale, and the debt-laden Evergrande Group added 18% and 14% respectively.

Developments in talks of compromise from both Moscow and Kyiv also buoyed investor sentiment. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said negotiations were becoming "more realistic", while Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said proposals now being discussed were "in my view close to an agreement".

Markets took a widely expected rate hike by the U.S. Federal Reserve in stride, despite worries about weakening global growth. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority followed suit with a 25 basis point increase of its own, as the city's currency is pegged to the U.S. dollar.

(Reporting by Jason Xue and Andrew Galbraith; Editing by Kim Coghill)