2015.01.2202:38:51UTC+00Chinese stocks reach highest in one week as PetroChina rise

Chinese stocks in Hong Kong reaches a one-week high on bets of a government stimulus to bolster economic growth. These speculations are to deflect a cash crunch ahead of the Chinese new year holiday next month.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng China Enterprises Index climbed by 0.2% to 12,046.90. The Shanghai Composite Index shed 0.1%. Hong Kong’s Hang Index rose by 0.4% while the CSI 300 was steady.

Jiangxi Copper Co. along with PetroChina Co. rose by at least 1.4% in Hong Kong. Meanwhile, China Vanke Co. along with Poly Real Estate Group Co. rose by at least 3% in Shanghai. China CNR Corp. was the biggest laggard among train companies in the mainland. Tomorrow, Chinese manufacturing data will be released.

On Wednesday, in a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Premier Li Keqiang said the China aims to avoid a hard landing so as to achieve an “appropriate” pace of growth. The People’s Bank of China, meanwhile, conducted the first ever reverse-repurchase operation in a year in its history.