** China's blue-chip CSI300 Index closed up 2.5% and the Shanghai Composite Index gained 2.0%. Both indexes logged their biggest daily jump since Nov. 29.
** Meanwhile, Hong Kong's Hang Seng benchmark finished up 0.8%, and the China Enterprises Index added 1%.
** "High-frequency data shows traffic congestion and subway crowds in big cities have rebounded to a near-normal level. In Tier-1 cities, secondary property transactions have been returning strongly," said Hao Hong, chief economist at Grow Investment Group.
** Goldman Sachs still expected a roughly 20% price return from Chinese stocks over the next 12 months, after the MSCI China corrected 9% downwards in the past month.
** The Wall Street bank believes that the principal theme in the stock market will gradually shift from reopening to recovery, with the driver of the potential gains likely coming from earnings growth.
** Shares of Chinese brokerages and China CSI Financials rallied 4.1% and 3.1%, respectively, after China's securities watchdog said it implemented the new registration-based initial public offering system on Friday, aiming to encourage new listings and boost corporate fundraising.
** China International Capital Corp surged 7.9% and CITIC Securities added 4.0%.
** New home sales in 16 Chinese cities rose for the third straight week, boosting shares of Chinese property developers. The CSI 300 Real Estate Index advanced nearly 2.5%.
** Tech giants listed in Hong Kong gained 1.3%
despite lingering Sino-U.S. tensions.
** U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Saturday warned
top Chinese diplomat Wang Yi of consequences should Beijing
provide material support to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
** "The meeting between Wang Yi and Antony Blinken on the
weekend did little to ease tensions between the two and instead
added more fuel to the fire," Maybank said in a note.
(Reporting by Shanghai Newsroom; Editing by Janane Venkatraman
and Devika Syamnath)
