(Bloomberg) — China’s stocks climbed Tuesday, fueled by the central bank’s latest blitz of policy measures designed to stem the worsening economic outlook and market mood.
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After a modest open, equities gathered steam after People’s Bank of China Governor Pan Gongsheng’s announcement, with traders assessing if the stimulus package was sufficiently robust. By late morning, the benchmark for onshore Chinese stocks rose as much as 2.4%, while the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index climbed more than 3% — both posting the strongest gains since February on an intraday basis. Banks, property developers and brokerages led the gains.
“This is probably the most aggressive sentiment booster that the PBOC and market regulators can introduce before the US election,” Homin Lee, senior macro strategist at Lombard Odier Singapore Ltd. “The overall packaging of these measures was done quite well, with helpful guidance for more easing down the road.”
Still, the modest gains in early trade reflect traders’ skepticism on whether the measures were enough. The specific proposals to prop up the stock market spurred more gains as they were seen addressing the poor investor sentiment.
READ: China’s Measures Show Urgency to Support Stocks, Analysts Say
The steps announced Tuesday include moves to boost banks’ lending, lowering borrowing costs on as much as $5.3 trillion in mortgages, and allowing funds and brokers to tap the central bank’s funding to buy stocks.
This is a “clear attempt to address slower growth, especially with the economy underperforming in areas like manufacturing and consumer spending,” said Billy Leung, an investment strategist at Global X Management in Sydney. “Given the ongoing low inflation and fiscal pressure, there could be more gradual moves like this as they try to stabilize things without over-committing.”
While market participants said that the policy blitz exceeded expectations, many still questioned if they would help revive consumer demand enough to stem the country’s longest deflationary period since 1999.
“A lot of the issues are demand or confidence driven,” said Nigel Peh, a portfolio manager at Timefolio Asset Management Co. “The effectiveness of these government measures remains yet to be seen.”
Government bonds flipped to a loss on the stock gains. China’s 10-year yields rose two basis points to 2.05%, erasing an earlier decline to 2% to a record low.
Iron ore also spiked after the announcement.
–With assistance from Winnie Hsu.
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