AKIPRESS.COM - Chinese stocks in Hong Kong climbed to a three-week high, paced by a rally in industrial and automobile companies, as cheaper valuations relative to their mainland peers lured buyers, Bloomberg reports.

The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index rose 0.3 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index added less than 0.1 percent after six straight weeks of declines, its longest losing stretch since 2012. The Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges on Friday published rules restricting trading halts in a move that raises the odds of the country’s shares being included in MSCI Inc.’s benchmark indexes.

At just under seven times its projected 12-month earnings, the Hang Seng China Index is valued at a 43 percent discount to the Shanghai gauge. The gains in Hong Kong narrowed the premium that mainland shares command over their dual-listed counterparts in the city to about 33 percent.

“H share valuations are a lot cheaper than mainland A shares, so that’s attracting some institutional buying,” said Wu Kan, a fund manager at JK Life Insurance Co. in Shanghai. “The new rule on trading halts will be good news in the medium and long term by regulating abuse of power.”

The new rules published by Chinese stock exchanges are aimed at curbing arbitrary suspensions in Chinese stocks, and halts will be capped at three months for major asset restructuring and one month during private placements, the exchanges said in separate statements. The bourses had allowed trading suspensions to shut down half the stock market as officials struggled to stop a $5 trillion selloff last summer.

The Hang Seng China Index traded at 8,616.50 as of 1.14 pm after falling as much as 0.8 percent, while the Hang Seng Index added 0.3 percent. The Shanghai Composite and the CSI 300 Index were little changed. The Hang Seng China AH Premium Index slid 0.4 percent.

The Hang Seng China Index has fallen 11 percent this year. The Shanghai Composite is the worst performer among 93 global benchmarks tracked by Bloomberg after dropping 20 percent amid concern that the nation’s economic rebound is faltering.