HONG KONG, Jan 4 (Reuters) - Hong Kong stocks on Wednesday jumped to their highest since July, while China stocks extended gains, as hopes of a post-COVID recovery, along with supportive policies for real estate and tech companies, boosted the market.
** China's blue-chip CSI 300 index rose 0.13%, while the Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.22%.
** The Hang Seng index added 3.22% and the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index advanced 3.39%.
** China's yuan hovered at a four-month high against the dollar, on expectations of more policy support to boost the economy as well as rising seasonal demand.
** "Investor confidence is coming back," said Linus Yip, chief strategist at First Shanghai Securities. "They're bullish on China's normalisation and recovery prospects; this sentiment has also benefited most sectors."
** China's property developers surged following forecast-beating December sales and market rumours that regulators were mulling more supportive policies to bolster the housing sector.
** The Hang Seng Mainland Properties Index climbed up to 7%, to its highest since Dec. 9.
** China's Financial Stability and Development Committee told the banking and securities regulators late last week to help shore up the balance sheets of some "systemically important" developers, Bloomberg reported.
** Chinese new-home sales rose more than 20% year-on-year over the three-day New Year holiday that started on Dec. 31, according to a private survey by the China Index Academy.
** Hong Kong-listed tech giants saw gains expanded in the afternoon, rising 4.6%, after Jack Ma's Ant Group reportedly received approval by Chinese regulators to raise 10.5 billion yuan for its consumer unit, signalling Beijing relaxing its crackdown on big tech firms.
** Alibaba Group jumped as much as 8.7%, while Tencent rose 4.6%.
** In mainland China, real estate, education and financial stocks led the gains, up 5%, 2.6%, and 1.9%, respectively, while the photovoltaic sector lost 2.3%. (Reporting by Summer Zhen; editing by Uttaresh.V)
