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China and Hong Kong stocks edged up on Wednesday, driven by a rebound in property sector after two days of decline.
The market has been closely monitoring the effectiveness of the latest real estate stimulus measures unveiled on Friday.
The CSI 300 Real Estate index and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Mainland Properties Index jumped 4.8% and 2.3%, respectively, by midday, after slipping in the previous two sessions.
"While the new property policies are positive for sentiment, sustainability of equity rally will likely be determined by the pace of transmission to earnings improvement as seen in previous programs," BNP Paribas analysts said.
Adding to that sentiment, the first batch of China's 1 trillion yuan ($138.14 billion) ultra-long special treasury bonds, which debuted on Wednesday, surged 25% in the morning session on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, triggering trading suspensions.
** At the midday break, the Shanghai Composite index was up 0.02% at 3,158.48 points.
** China's blue-chip CSI300 index was up 0.07%, with its financial sector sub-index higher by 0.9%, the consumer staples sector down 1.06%, the real estate index up 4.76% and the healthcare sub-index down 0.73%. ** Chinese H-shares listed in Hong Kong rose 0.31% to 6,842.2, while the Hang Seng Index was up 0.18% at 19,254.80. ** The smaller Shenzhen index was down 0.05%, the start-up board ChiNext Composite index was weaker by 0.15% and Shanghai's tech-focused STAR50 index was down 0.31%. ** Around the region, MSCI's Asia ex-Japan stock index was firmer by 0.42% while Japan's Nikkei index was down 0.74%. ** The yuan was quoted at 7.2392 per U.S. dollar, 0.02% weaker than the previous close of 7.2377. (Reporting by Summer Zhen; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala)