HSBC shares surged more than 10% on Monday after its largest shareholder, China’s Ping An Asset Management, increased its stake, delivering a vote of confidence in the global lender despite rising tensions between Washington and Beijing, reported the Financial Times.
The increase is a welcome respite for HSBC’s share price, which has more than halved this year — including a 9% drop last week — to a 25-year low as the lender has become increasingly entangled in ill-feeling between China, the UK and US.
Ping An revealed in a stock exchange filing late on Friday that it had raised its holding in HSBC to 8%, up from 7.95%, buying 10.8 million shares at an average of HK$28.29 each.
When trading began in Hong Kong on Monday, HSBC shares rose to as high as HK$31.30 before closing up 9%, their best one-day increase in more than 11 years. The bank’s London-listed shares also closed up almost 9%.