China stocks steady after rate-cut rally, Hong Kong weaker

[SHANGHAI] Chinese stocks held steady on Tuesday morning, taking a breather after the previous session's rally triggered by optimism over the central bank's interest rate cut on the weekend.

Real estate stocks retreated on profit-taking, but Shenzhen's start-up board ChiNext remained bullish, touching fresh highs.

"The market is taking a respite after the rate cut, and I expect to see it having a consolidation period for a while,"said Zhang Qi, analyst at Haitong Securities in Shanghai. "Some investors liquidated their position and left the market in the morning," he said, adding that after recent steep rises over the past two months, valuations are no longer low.

The CSI300 index rose 0.5 per cent, to 4,711.45 points at the end of the morning session, while the Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.7 per cent, to 4,362.38 points.

China CSI300 stock index futures for May rose 0.2 percent, to 4,661.4, 50.05 points below the current value of the underlying index.

The Hang Seng index dropped 0.3 per cent, to 27,630.82 points.

The index measuring price differences between dual-listed companies in Shanghai and Hong Kong stood at 130.99.

A value above 100 indicates Shanghai shares are pricing at a premium to shares in the same company trading in Hong Kong, and vice versa.

Total volume of A shares traded in Shanghai was 30.66 billion shares, while Shenzhen volume was 19.96 billion shares.

Total trading volume of companies included in the HSI index was 0.7 billion shares.

Real estate stocks, which jumped on Monday on the interest rate cut, retreated on Tuesday.

"A small correction in the property sector is not surprising as investors are likely taking profits after the rally yesterday," said Gerry Alfonso, director at Shenwan Hongyuan Securities Co.

But rises in many other sectors could indicate that "the markets have not yet fully priced in the recent interest rate cut."

REUTERS