Hong Kong stocks edged higher on Thursday, trimming a weekly decline, as investors grew optimistic about China's economic growth prospects following signs of a rebound in the property market. The Hang Seng Index rose 1% by noon, paring its weekly loss to 0.4%.
Real estate developers led the gains as residential property sales for 30 major cities in China surged 22% last week from the previous seven-day period, with first-tier cities spearheading the nationwide increase at 27%. The sharp rebound in sales, coming after a 58% jump the prior week, was fueled by supportive policy measures from Beijing aimed at bolstering buyer confidence in the property sector since late September.
Lower U.S. Treasury yields, driven by fading expectations for aggressive interest rate hikes and concerns over Donald Trump's presidential bid, also boosted buying interest in Hong Kong stocks.
However, Great Wall Motor Co. (2333.HK, 601633.SS) bucked the positive trend as its attributable profit fell 7.8% year-over-year to 3.35 billion yuan ($465 million) in the third quarter. The Chinese automaker's earnings per share decreased 7.1% from a year earlier, though operating income grew 2.6% to 50.8 billion yuan.
Blackrock Inc. increased its long position in Great Wall Motor's H-shares to 8.17% from 7.57% on October 22.
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