SHANGHAI, Nov 27 (Reuters) - China stocks rose on Friday to
post weekly gains, as upbeat profits from industrial firms
pointed to a continued recovery in the world's second largest
economy amid the coronavirus outbreak.
** The blue-chip CSI300 index rose 1.2% to
4,980.77, a touch below the over five-year high of 5,029.65 hit
on Monday, while the Shanghai Composite Index climbed
1.1% to 3,408.31.
** For the week, CSI300 gained 0.8%, while SSEC added 0.9%.
** October profits at Chinese industrial firms rose 28.2% to
642.91 billion yuan ($97.79 billion) compared with a year
earlier, official data showed on Friday, pointing to a steady
recovery in the manufacturing sector after it was hit by the
COVID-19 pandemic.
** China's factory activity likely expanded at a slightly
faster pace in November, a Reuters poll showed on Friday.
** For 2021, China's real GDP growth is forecast to grow by
8.2% y/y, Wendy Liu, head of China Strategy at UBS Global
Research, wrote in a report.
** UBS has set a target of 5,450 and 6,300 at end-2021 and
end-2022, respectively, for the blue-chip CSI300 index, adding
mainland households could raise exposure to onshore equities in
the next two years.
** Though analysts said bond defaults and Sino-U.S. tensions
would continue to weigh on the market.
** The Trump administration is close to declaring that 89
Chinese aerospace and other companies have military ties,
restricting them from buying a range of U.S. goods and
technology, according to a draft copy of the list seen by
Reuters.
** There is still some lingering concern about the recent
surprise SOE bond defaults, while the U.S. list could impact
investor sentiment negatively if published, Morgan Stanley
analysts noted in a report.
** A spurt of missed debt repayments by three Chinese
state-owned firms - a coal miner, a chipmaker and an automobile
company - has shaken local markets and heightened speculation
that a campaign to wean the economy off heavy credit is back.
(Reporting by Shanghai Newsroom;
Editing by Vinay Dwivedi)