stocks Photo:CFP

China's stock markets started the day positively on Thursday following an editorial by the Xinhua News Agency saying the recent regulatory policies targeting Chinese platform economy and tutoring firms are not part of a larger crackdown, but aiming to foster a healthy development of the industries. 

The message from Xinhua late Wednesday night had an instant calming effect with Shanghai Composite Index up 1.26 percent, Shenzhen Component Index up 2.16 percent and tech-heavy ChiNext index up 2.75 percent at the opening session on Thursday. 

Stocks of sodium-ion battery and semiconductors led the growth at A-share markets. 

The editorial addressed market anxiety over recent regulatory efforts, which have also been reflected at the Hong Kong stock market on Thursday. 

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose by 2.93 percent and returned to the 26,000 mark at the opening session, with technology and biomedicine stocks skyrocketing, ending the losing streak for days. 

Shares of technology giant Tencent jumped more than 7 percent. Stocks of online food delivery platform Meituan soared by nearly 11 percent. 

The Chinese economy remains well placed, its reform and opening-up pledge continues unchanged and its capital markets are still intact, Xinhua said in the article. 

China's regulatory policies targeting the platform economy, private education and tutoring, among other sectors in fact aim at the country's long-term development, according to Xinhua. 

The sweeping overhaul mandating tutoring firms to be registered as non-profit organizations was officially announced on Saturday. Curriculum tutoring firms in China will no longer be allowed to raise capital in stock markets and foreign investment in the sector will be banned.

The announcement struck the broader stock market in the first two days of the week, with the Chinese mainland stocks and the Hong Kong market posting losses across the board.

Global Times