Chinese and Hong Kong stocks saw gains on Thursday after the People’s Bank of China launched a swap program designed to support the stock market, while investors anticipated further policy updates.
China’s key indices, the CSI300 and the Shanghai Composite, both rose nearly 3% by midday. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index surged 4.2%.
The central bank announced it would begin accepting applications from financial institutions for its 500-billion-yuan ($70.62 billion) swap facility, aimed at injecting more liquidity into the stock market.
Elsewhere in the Asia-Pacific region, most stock markets also climbed on Thursday, boosted by record highs set on Wall Street.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 increased by 0.4% in morning trading to 39,439.50. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 advanced 0.6% to 8,239.10, while South Korea’s Kospi added 0.3%, reaching 2,601.66.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones and S&P 500 both closed at all-time highs. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1% to 42,512.00, the S&P 500 rose 0.7% to 5,792.04, and the Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.6% to 18,291.62.
Meanwhile, the yield on 10-year U.S. Treasury notes increased to 4.07% from 4.02% late Tuesday.
