Hong Kong has long been locked in a battle with Asian peers such as Singapore and Shanghai for the title of the region
HONG KONG: The Chinese and Hong Kong stock markets moved up on Friday, the last trading day of the year, after authorities allowed banks to set up new wealth management companies and as investors expected more government support after New Year's Day.
The Shanghai Composite Index edged up 0.2 percent to 2,486.90 points, while the blue-chip CSI300 index rose 0.3 percent.
As of midday, the Shanghai stock index is down 24.8 percent year-to-date, and sits below its 50-day moving average and below its 200-day moving average.
CSI 300's financial sector sub-index was higher by 0.9 percent, the consumer staples sector was up 1.1 percent, while the smaller Shenzhen index stayed flat and the start-up board ChiNext Composite index was slightly softer by about 0.5 percent.
In Hong Kong, the main Hang Seng Index rose close to 0.1 percent at 25,502.87 points, while the index for Chinese H-shares listed in Hong Kong rose 0.8 percent.
As of midday, the Hang Seng is down 14.8 percent year-to-date.
China's banking and insurance regulator gave the green light for two major state-owned banks to set up their wealth management units on Thursday.
The introduction of these wealth management companies, in conjunction with a looser monetary policy next year, implies that Chinese stock investors "will no longer have to worry about liquidity" in 2019, Wei Yi, an analyst at Kaiyuan Securities, wrote in a memo on Friday.
Although most analysts expect Chinese authorities to do more to support the economy next year, the scale of the stimulus remains in doubt, analysts at Minsheng Securities said in a note on Friday.
"Hopefully there will be a tax cut on a larger scale, infrastructure (spending) will rebound but there is limited room for that," said the analysts.
"Real-estate policies will be implemented on a city-by-city basis."
One city in central China backtracked on lifting curbs on property prices after just one day on Thursday.
