Hong Kong shares rise as PBOC says 2nd stock link coming

A worker is silhouetted as he cleans a window at a shopping mall in Beijing

Hong Kong led gains in Asian stock markets yesterday after an official said China will set up a second stock trading link with the city this year.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng jumped 3.1 percent to 23,272.66 while the Shanghai Composite Index in mainland China added 2.6 percent to 3,402.30.
People’s Bank of China Governor Zhou Xiaochuan, writing in an article posted on the central bank’s website, said that a stock trading link between Hong Kong and mainland China’s second smaller exchange in Shenzhen will be launched this year. The link has been widely anticipated by investors following last year’s opening of Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect. That link gives outsiders wider access to the mainland’s main market through Hong Kong brokers while also allowing wealthy Chinese investors to invest in a market outside the mainland for the first time.
China shares gained after a survey found that the country’s service industries strengthened last month. The Caixin/Markit purchasing managers index for October rose to 52 from a 14-month low of 50.5 in September, based on a 100-point scale on which numbers below 50 indicate contraction. China’s service industries such as retailing and tourism have helped offset weakness in manufacturing amid a slowdown in the world’s No. 2 economy.
The China services index “shows that previous stimulus policies have begun to take effect, while the economic structure steadily improved,” said He Fan, chief economist at Caixin Insight Group. “The economy has started to show signs of stabilizing, reducing the need for a further stimulus.” Kelvin Chan, Business Writer, Hong Kong, AP