Hang Seng, China Stocks Soar as Beijing Pledges Support Amid Equity Rout

Crypto remains stable, though liquidity thin, as markets in Hong Kong climb out from the worst slump since the 2008 recession.

By Sam Reynolds

Mar 16, 2022 at 7:34 a.m. UTC

Updated Mar 17, 2022 at 4:28 p.m. UTC

The Hong Kong skyline (Ruslan Bardash/Unsplash)

Sam Reynolds

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Hong Kong’s stock market posted double-digit gains during the Wednesday afternoon trading session after China's State Council pledged support of the stock market.

Xinhua reported (Chinese language) that the Financial Stability and Development Committee of the State Council pledged to keep the market stable and support overseas share listings.
U.S. financial regulators and their Chinese counterparts are currently engaged in a dispute over the availability of Chinese company audits to U.S. officials. The U.S. has threatened to delist Chinese ADRs should these audits not be provided.
Tencent was up nearly 20% and Alibaba hit 19% on the news.
The broader Hang Seng index is up 9%, while the specific China tech index in Hong Kong is up 12%.
According to state media reports, regulation of China’s tech sector will soon normalize. The government also said they would handle some of the risks for property developers.
Bitcoin’s (BTC) price remains relatively unaffected on the news.
The price of the world’s largest digital asset briefly touched $41,000 late morning Asia time, but was trading around $39,450, up 2.82%, at time of writing.
Traders report that liquidity is now extremely thin in crypto, hampering dynamic market moves, as the market awaits the Fed Minutes.

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