China stocks turn fickle as stimulus vows have few details
Shanghai Composite flat
Hang Seng -2%
Yuan weaker at 7.0774 per dollar
Updates prices to 0200 GMT, adds analyst quote in paragraph 6
SHANGHAI, Oct 14 (Reuters) -China's stock markets struggled for headway in volatile early trade on Monday as stimulus promises lifted property shares, though without re-igniting the euphoria of late last month.
Hong Kong shares were bumpy, swinging the Hang Seng .HSI as far as 2% lower. The Shanghai Composite .SSEC and blue chip CSI300 .CSI300 opened strongly but retreated to flat by 0200 GMT. Sub-indexes of real estate .CSI000952 and construction .CSI399995 were up by about 2%.
China's financial markets have been on a rollercoaster ride since late September when a series of rate cuts, news reports and announcements raised expectations of a major government rescue effort for China's ailing economy.
At a Saturday news conference Finance Minister Lan Foan reiterated plans to help, promising to raise government debt. He did not spell out exactly how much the government will spend or how quickly, and investors sounded disappointed.
However the tone and new policies aimed at stabilising property markets were enough to steady the mainland markets.
"The conference emphasised the importance of government leverage as a driving force for nominal growth, which could help the economy emerge from deflationary pressures," said OCBC's head of macro research, Tommy Xie, in a note to clients.
Goldman Sachs estimated that measures announced on Saturday and last week would possibly add 0.4 percentage points to growth next year, and the bank's analysts upgraded a 2025 real GDP growth forecast from 4.3% to 4.7%.
Global commodity markets from iron ore to other industrial metals and oil have also been volatile, along with currencies such as the Australian dollar AUD=D3 that are typically sensitive to China's economic conditions.
The Australian dollar fell in morning trade along with oil prices.
Weekend data showed inflation slowing and producer price deflation deepening, while a raft of Chinese data due this week - including gross domestic product - is seen likely to be soft and add pressure on Beijing to act urgently to revive flagging demand.
Passenger vehicle sales, however, rose 4.3% in September from a year earlier, snapping five months of decline thanks to a subsidy encouraging trade-ins.
Reporting by Reuters' Shanghai newsroom; Editing by Christopher Cushing
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