China's central bank has pledged it would use tools to support key sectors, having already pumped billions of dollars into the money market to stabilise confidence. Sentiment was supported by comments from central bank advisor Ma Jun that China should consider lowering benchmark deposit rate to enable banks to reduce lending rates for businesses.
More than 300 Chinese companies are seeking bank loans totalling at least 57.4 billion yuan ($8.2 billion) to help cope with the disruption,
The death toll from the coronavirus epidemic in mainland China soared past 1,000 on Tuesday with a record daily rise in fatalities, although the number of new confirmed cases fell. There were 2,478 new confirmed cases in mainland China on Feb. 10, down from 3,062 on the previous day, bringing the total to 42,638. Investors became more confident as the number of newly confirmed cases outside epicentre Hubei province dropped.
Blue chips rose across the board. HSBC (00005) rose 1% to HK$58.65. HKEX (00388) was up 0.7% to HK$270.2. Tencent (00700) put on 2.1% to HK$409. China Mobile (00941) inched down 0.6% to HK$66.45 after the MIIT said it would allocate spectrum reserved for 5G indoor coverage to China Telecom and China Unicom for sharing. AIA Group (01299) advanced 1% to HK$79.9.
Geely Automobile (00175) soared 5.7% to HK$14.48 after the company said it is in talks with Volvo Car AB regarding a possible merger. But other automakers were mostly weaker. BYD Company (01211) dipped 3.5% to HK$45.35. Brilliance China Automotive (01114) fell 1% to HK$7.03. GAC Group (02238) slid 2.2% to HK$8.285. Great Wall Motor (02333) was flat at HK$5.52.
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