Hong Kong stocks rally after China retail sales data lifts mood

Hong Kong stocks rose on Monday after China’s retail data provided a bright spot in an otherwise uninspiring set of economic numbers, although caution prevailed as heightened trade tensions with the European Union (EU) kept investors on edge.

The Hang Seng Index rose 0.73 per cent to 18,071.86 as of 11am local time, following its weekly loss of 2.3 per cent. The Hang Seng Tech Index added 0.61 per cent while the Shanghai Composite Index dropped 0.4 per cent.

China’s industrial production slowed to 5.6 per cent in May from 6.7 per cent in April, while property investment from January to May tumbled 10 per cent year-on-year compared with the 9.8 per cent drop in the first four months, according to the statistics bureau. Retail sales in May was a bright spot with a 3.7 per cent increase, higher than April’s 2.3 per cent.

“A lot of people were very focused on the retail sales number rather than the rest as property numbers were expected to be very weak,” said Nitin Dialdas, CIO at MDN Capital Ventures. “The retail sales number coming in better than expectations gives hope on the consumer side of things. Markets are reacting to that as consumerism is going to be the key going forward.”

The People’s Bank of China kept the interest rate on the one-year medium-term lending facility loan unchanged at 2.50%, squashing hopes of monetary easing as the world’s second-largest economy grappled with a multi-year property crisis. Chinese developer Longfor Group Holdings led the declines among the benchmark constituents, declining 2.6 per cent to HK$12.04.

“While China has room to cut interest rates to tackle the economic and low inflation challenges, it has opted for a status quo for other policy goals, such as capital outflows and exchange rate stability,” said Gary Ng, senior economist at Natixis. “The current policy trajectory may not offer much help to market confidence unless we see lower rates and more demand-side fiscal support.”

In retaliation to the EU tariffs, China might investigate import of dairy and pork products from the EU, a government spokesman said.

Other major Asian markets were broadly lower. Japan’s Nikkei 225 lost 1.95 per cent and South Korea’s Kospi slid 0.29 per cent, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 dropped 0.18 per cent.