Hong Kong stocks snap 4-day losing streak, helped by southern China integration plan

Hong Kong stocks broke a four-day losing streak on Wednesday as investors turned their attention to shares which could benefit from Beijing's plan to more strongly integrate the economies of southern China, Hong Kong and Macau.

The Hang Seng index recouped initial losses to end up 0.9 percent at 24,313.50 points, while the Hong Kong China Enterprises Index gained 0.4 percent to 10,208.31.

China's economic integration plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Great Bay Area, announced late on Tuesday, sent shares of port operators and developers in the region surging, said Alex Wong, a director at Ample Finance Group.

The market showed little response to inflation data released early on Wednesday, which showed China's producer price inflation cooled for the first time in seven months in March.

While some analysts said producer price inflation appeared to have peaked, they expected it to remain elevated for some time, continuing to support profits for the industrial sector.

"Cooling inflation has been largely expected," Wu Kan, head of equity trading at investment firm Shanshan Finance, while conceding that recent weakness in China's commodity prices had weighed on market sentiment.

Price of non-ferrous metals in Shanghai fell to a three-month low and coal prices slumped almost 7 percent at the close.

Nearly all sectors gained ground, with tech stocks leading the gains.

(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)