China stocks rose on Friday ahead of the May Day holiday, with media, financials, and consumer shares leading the gains amid positive recovery signs and strong earnings.

 

** China's blue-chip CSI300 Index and the Shanghai Composite Index were both up 0.7% by the end of the morning session.

** Hong Kong's benchmark Hang Seng Index gained 0.9%, while the China Enterprises Index added 1.1%.

** Other Asian stocks also rallied after U.S. stocks surged overnight and Treasury yields resumed their climb as strong earnings helped investors look past signs of economic weakness.

** "Investor sentiment stabilized somewhat as consumption recovery stays on track and concerns over COVID-19 resurgence lessen," Morgan Stanley said in a note.

** The brokerage also said the sentiment could incrementally improve further if there is positive holiday data, more signs of corporate earnings revisions bottoming out, and U.S.-China relations stabilizing with signs of direct communication channels being re-established.

** Financials firms and consumer staples both gained 1.3%. Ping An Insurance Group Co of China Ltd extended climb following a 10% jump in the previous session on better-than-expected first-quarter earnings.

** Media stocks jumped more than 8% following corrections in previous two sessions, amid frenzy around Chinese equivalents of OpenAI's ChatGPT chatbot, where analysts had warned of risks of bubble.

** China's banking and insurance regulator said it would enhance credit support and lower the actual financing costs of small and micro enterprises this year to better support economic recovery.

** White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said on Thursday the United States is not looking to decouple its economy from the Chinese economy, saying, "We're not cutting off trade."

** Tech giants listed in Hong Kong rose 1.4%.

** Market participants also cautiously awaited policies from the April Politburo meeting, when a top decision-making body of the Communist Party discusses the economy. (Reporting by Shanghai Newsroom; editing by Uttaresh Venkateshwaran)