Hong Kong Stocks Shrug Off Chengdu Lockdown Extension: Is China's Stimulus Roll-Out Plan Lifting Sentiment?

Hong Kong stocks opened in the green on Tuesday, with the benchmark Hang Seng Index gaining 0.08%, as investors kept their eyes peeled for the Reserve Bank of Australia’s policy decision and digested China's plan to accelerate stimulus rollout in the third quarter.

Macro News: China has slashed its forex reserve ratio (the amount of foreign-exchange deposits banks need to set aside as reserves) to 6% from an earlier 8% to boost the yuan, which hit a two-year low. This is the second time the reserve ratio has been reduced, reported Bloomberg.

China said it would accelerate its stimulus rollout in the third quarter in an attempt to recover from the prior quarter marred by pandemic-related losses, reported Bloomberg.

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The Chinese city of Chengdu has asked the majority of its 21 million residents to stay home for three more days, as officials continued to fight flare-ups of COVID-19 elsewhere in the country, reported the Wall Street Journal.

Company News: Warren Buffett-backed BYD BYDDF rose to second place in global electric-car battery rankings in July, surpassing LG Energy Solution Ltd. as China’s demand for clean cars surges, reported Bloomberg. Last week, Buffett’s firm Berkshire Hathaway Inc (NYSE: BRK-A) trimmed its stake in BYD for the second time recently by selling 1.72 million Hong Kong-listed shares of the company.

NIO has officially launched the NIO Air AR Glasses it created with augmented reality (AR) tech company Nreal.

Top Gainers and Movers: Country Garden Services Holdings Company Ltd and CNOOC Ltd were the top gainers on Hang Seng during the opening trade, rising over 2%. Alibaba Health Information Technology Ltd and Nongfu Spring Co., Ltd. were the top losers, shedding over 1.35% and 0.55%, respectively.

Global News: U.S. futures traded in the green on Tuesday morning Asia session. The Dow Jones futures were up 0.63%, while the Nasdaq futures gained 0.89%. The S&P 500 futures rose 0.7%.

Elsewhere in Asia, Australia’s ASX 200 gained 0.09%. Japan’s Nikkei 225 was up 0.24%, while China’s Shanghai Composite index gained 0.15%. South Korea’s Kospi was up 0.22%.