Hong Kong stocks held firm on Wednesday despite China's weak economic growth data, amid signs that Chinese mutual fund managers were raising billions of dollars as they sought bargains in the city.
The Hang Seng index ended up 0.2 percent, to 27,618.82, while the China Enterprises Index gained 1.5 percent, to 14,471.82 points, Reuters reported.
Hong Kong stocks held ground as some analysts forecast that about 100 billion yuan ($16.1 billion) could be raised by Chinese mutual fund managers in April to invest in the city's stock market.
Invesco Ltd's China fund venture has raised about 11 billion yuan for China's first mutual fund to invest under the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect scheme, two sources told Reuters.
"Most of China's small-cap companies are expensive, but in Hong Kong, some small caps are seriously undervalued, while some others are rationally priced," said Huang Ruiqing, fund manager at Bosera Asset Management Co, which will also launch a fund to invest in Hong Kong next week.
Among the most actively traded stocks on Hong Kong's main board were Landing International Development, up 28.3 percent to HK$0.15, Ping Shan Tea, down 4.1 percent to HK$0.05 and GOME, down 6.4 percent to HK$2.05.
Total trading volume of companies included in the HSI index was 4.0 billion shares.
JGBs Mixed
Japanese government bonds were narrowly mixed on Wednesday ahead of the next session's 20-year sale, underpinned by the Bank of Japan's buying operations.
The BOJ offered to buy 375 billion yen ($3.14b) worth of JGBs in the 1-year to 3-year zone, 375 billion yen in the 3-year to 5-year zone, and 400 billion yen in the 5-year to 10-year zone under its massive JGB purchase program.
On Thursday, the Ministry of Finance will offer 1.2 trillion of 20-year JGBs, reopening issue number 152 with a coupon of 1.2 percent. The benchmark 10-year yield inched up half a basis point to 0.325 percent. Superlong JGBs edged higher, with the 20-year yield falling 1 basis points to 1.090 percent and the 30-year yield shedding two basis points to 1.340 percent.
June 10-year JGB futures ended down 0.02 point at 147.85.
