By Elsa Ohlen

The rally in China stocks picked up again Friday, clawing back some of Thursday's losses.

Overnight in Asia, the Hang Seng Index closed 2.8% higher, posting a further advance after the previous day's losses, and leaving the index on track to close at its highest level since January 2023, according to Deutsche Bank analysts.

Among the winners were e-commerce giants JD.com and Alibaba, which rose 7.3% and 3.5%, respectively. Gaming company Tencent was up 2.4%. The companies' American depositary receipts, or ADRs, were following suit in the premarket Friday.

Electric vehicle makers were mixed as Tesla rival BYD rose 5.7% while NIO fell slightly and closed 0.4% lower. The European Union voted Friday to impose tariffs as high as 45% on Chinese EVs amid efforts to reduce dependency on the country. However, the move had been expected according to Deutsche Bank economists.

The rally in Chinese stocks follows an economic stimulus package aimed at getting the country's struggling economy back on its feet. As China's weeklong national holiday comes to an end, the focus next week will likely be on whether policymakers follow up the economic measures with fiscal moves as well.

The first week back from the holiday and the high-level NPC policy meeting due at the end of October mark two important windows for fiscal policy delivery, Citi analysts led by Xiangrong Yu and Xinyu Ji wrote in a note.

Write to Elsa Ohlen at elsa.ohlen@barrons.com

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October 04, 2024 07:40 ET (11:40 GMT)

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