The Hong Kong stock market closed higher on Tuesday after China cut key interest rates for the first time in seven months.
The Hang Seng Index rose 1.5%, the Hang Seng Tech Index up 1.2%.
Morgan Stanley’s upbeat view on China’s pharmaceutical industry boosted drug makers, which led the broader market gains. 3SBio soared 32%, RemeGen, Cstone Pharma rose 16%.
CATL rose 16%; Xiaomi rose 5%; BYD rose 2.5%; JD.com, Alibaba rose 2%; Meituan, Li Auto rose 1%; Tencent rose 0.6%.
The People’s Bank of China on Tuesday lowered the one-year loan prime rate (LPR) to 3 per cent from 3.1 per cent, while the five-year rate, a reference for long-term loans including mortgages, was also cut by 10 basis points to 3.5 per cent. The LPRs were last slashed by a quarter of a percentage point in October following a broad easing by the central bank.