China stocks shine in first week of 2023 on economic recovery hopes

SHANGHAI, Dec 29 (Reuters) - China stocks were set to log a five-day winning streak on Friday as investors hope the economy will soon emerge from COVID woes and see a robust recovery.

** China's blue-chip CSI 300 Index .CSI300 was up 0.7% by the end of the morning session, while the Shanghai Composite Index .SSEC added 0.4%.

** Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index .HSI and the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index .HSCE rose 0.5% and 0.7%, respectively.

** For the week, the CSI 300 Index has gained 3.2% so far, while the Hang Seng benchmark has added 7% to reach a six-month high.

** Other Asian equities also gained, while the dollar hovered a one-month high as investors braced for crucial U.S. jobs data later in the day that should provide clues on how aggressive the Federal Reserve will be in tightening policy.

** "A-share sentiment recovered steadily post year," said Morgan Stanley analysts in a .

** "We expect infections to peak in January ... an earlier peak in infection cases implies earlier in economic activity. We thus expect the economy to start a strong recovery in 2Q23," J.P.Morgan analysts wrote in a .

** China expects the total of passenger trips made by travellers by road, rail, water and flight during the upcoming Lunar New Year to reach 2.1 billion this year, double from last year's 1.05 billion during the same period.

** New energy shares .CSI399808 added 4.3% to lead the gains, while tourism .CSI930633, healthcare .CSIHCSI lost 2.4% and 0.6%, respectively.

** Tech giants listed in Hong Kong .HSTECH added 0.6%, with Alibaba 9988.HK and Tencent 0700.HK up more than 2% each.

** Hong Kong's Hang Seng Mainland Properties Index .HSMPI rose 2.3% after China established a dynamic adjustment mechanism on mortgage rates for first-time home buyers, in a bid to further support the property sector.

** Morgan Stanley said Chinese equities will likely lead global stock market performance in 2023, and advised investors to be overweight on China within global equity portfolios with a skew towards the offshore space.

(Reporting by Shanghai Newsroom
Editing by Vinay Dwivedi)

((Jason.Xue@thomsonreuters.com))