Hong Kong’s main stock exchange index gained more than 3% in the early hours of today’s session, after some cities in mainland China eased restrictions to combat SARS-CoV-2.
Around 11:00 (03:00 in Lisbon), the Hang Seng index was rising 3.31%, while on the other side of the border the composite index of the Shenzhen stock exchange gained 0.85% and that of Shanghai registered a increase of 1.35%.
On Sunday, Beijing and other Chinese cities announced that passengers can board buses and subways without a virus test, for the first time in months.
This requirement had sparked complaints from some Beijing residents that although the city has closed many testing stations, most public places still require Covid-19 testing.
The easing of restrictions to combat the new coronavirus, responsible for covid-19, is fueling “market optimism regarding (…) a likely acceleration of growth in 2023 for assets exposed to the situation in China”, he said, in a note, an analyst at SPI Asset Management, Stephen Innes.
China, where the virus was first detected in late 2019 in the central city of Wuhan, is the latest major country to try to completely stop transmission through quarantines, lockdowns and mass testing.
The so-called “zero-covid” policy has been considered responsible for a sharp slowdown in Chinese economic growth this year.
China today announced 30,014 new cases of covid-19 in the last 24 hours (86% of which were asymptomatic), five thousand less than on Saturday.
In recent days, several cities have closed numerous nucleic acid testing points and reduced the frequency with which they test the population, which may result in the discovery of fewer positive cases.
