China stocks rise in early trade on boost from RRR cut

SHANGHAI, July 12 (Reuters) - China stocks rose in early trading on Monday, lifted by the central bank’s surprise cut in the reserve requirement ratio (RRR) to support the economy.

The CSI300 index advanced 0.3 % to 5,081.87 points at 0137 GMT, while the Shanghai Composite Index also gained 0.3 % to 3,534.93 points.

The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was up 0.8 %, to 27,552.64 points.

Late on Friday, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) said it will cut the amount of cash that banks must hold as reserves, releasing around 1 trillion yuan ($154.19 billion) in long-term liquidity to underpin its post-COVID economic recovery that is starting to lose momentum.

“Overall, we think the larger than expected universal RRR cut is likely to reinforce market expectation that PBoC is determined to keep liquidity stable, which will support risk sentiment in the near term,” OCBC Bank wrote in a note on Monday. (SHANGHAI NEWSROOM Editing by Shri Navaratnam)