** China's blue-chip CSI300 Index and the Shanghai
Composite Index were both up 0.7% by the end of the
morning session.
** Hong Kong's benchmark Hang Seng Index gained 0.9%,
while the China Enterprises Index added 1.1%.
** Other Asian stocks also rallied after U.S. stocks surged
overnight and Treasury yields resumed their climb as strong
earnings helped investors look past signs of economic weakness.
** "Investor sentiment stabilized somewhat as consumption
recovery stays on track and concerns over COVID-19 resurgence
lessen," Morgan Stanley said in a note.
** The brokerage also said the sentiment could incrementally
improve further if there is positive holiday data, more signs of
corporate earnings revisions bottoming out, and U.S.-China
relations stabilizing with signs of direct communication
channels being re-established.
** Financials firms and consumer staples both gained 1.3%. Ping An Insurance Group Co of China Ltd extended climb following a 10% jump in the previous
session on better-than-expected first-quarter earnings.
** Media stocks jumped more than 8% following
corrections in previous two sessions, amid frenzy around Chinese
equivalents of OpenAI's ChatGPT chatbot, where analysts had
warned of risks of bubble.
** China's banking and insurance regulator said it would
enhance credit support and lower the actual financing costs of
small and micro enterprises this year to better support economic
recovery.
** White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said
on Thursday the United States is not looking to decouple its
economy from the Chinese economy, saying, "We're not cutting off
trade."
** Tech giants listed in Hong Kong rose 1.4%.
** Market participants also cautiously awaited policies from
the April Politburo meeting, when a top decision-making body of
the Communist Party discusses the economy.
(Reporting by Shanghai Newsroom; editing by Uttaresh
Venkateshwaran)
