Tick Away From YtD Lows, Policy Support & Buybacks Eyed

Most of the major benchmarks edged higher on Tuesday with the CSI 300 (+0.2%) and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng (+1.1%) moving further away from Monday’s YtD lows.

• Share buyback announcements seemed to support the CSI 300, while a focus on the potential for fresh policy support post-CEWC (which has seemingly got underway and could conclude today, per various reports) also factored in.
• A reminder that the meeting will focus on ’24 economic targets, which will not be formally released until the Two Sessions event in March (although plenty of source reports are likely to do the rounds between now and then).
• Base line expectations seemingly look for a steady GDP growth target of ~5% during ’24.
• Hope surrounding the CEWC boosted property developers, while a post-market BBG source report noted that embattled developer Country Garden is likely to avoid its first default on an onshore bond on the back of a deal struck with debtholders.
• Elsewhere, the Hang Seng Tech index also seemed to benefit from policy-related expectations, although the ChiNext finished a touch lower on the day.
• We also saw continued speculation re: imminent easing from the PBoC, with the soft round of inflation data released over the weekend providing the driving factor there.
• Elsewhere, state-backed media flagged the need to increase the efficiency of existing loans.
• Mainland stocks experienced a second consecutive day of net outflows via the HK-China Stock Connect schemes (~CNY5bn).