Chinese Premier Li Qiang on Tuesday chaired a State Council executive meeting, during which arrangements were made for government work following the Spring Festival holiday and a series of draft policy documents were reviewed.
This year marks the beginning of the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-2030), and all departments under the State Council must remain focused on annual goals and tasks, and ensure that the government's arrangements are fully in place, the meeting said.
It said that efforts should be made to support local authorities and enterprises in fostering new growth drivers, and to introduce more targeted policy measures to invigorate market vitality continuously and enhance the people's well-being.
It also highlighted the need to develop the silver economy and strengthen elderly care services. To unleash the consumption potential of senior citizens further, it urged efforts to foster tailored consumption scenarios and business models.
The meeting called for quality improvements and the expanded coverage of elderly care services to ensure the country's senior citizens are cared for well.
It reviewed and adopted a guideline on strengthening firefighting work in local communities, and stressed the need for improved fire safety systems at the community level, as well as strengthened public preparedness for emergencies.
A draft revision of law on water was also discussed and approved in principle, and the decision to submit the draft to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress for deliberation was made.
Chinese premier chairs State Council executive meeting
The stocks in Hong Kong edged down on Tuesday, while Japanese shares closed higher, said Timothy Pope, a market analyst for China Global Television Network (CGTN).
While Chinese mainland stocks closed higher on Tuesday, the first trading day after the nine-day Spring Festival, or Chinese New Year, holiday, Hong Kong's stock market ended lower with the benchmark Hang Seng Index down 1.82 percent to close at 26,590.32 points.
On Monday, Hong Kong's stock market ended higher with the benchmark Hang Seng Index up 2.53 percent to close at 27,081.91 points. The analyst attributed the increase largely to the U.S. Supreme Court's tariff ruling, which said on Feb 20 that the U.S. President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs under a law meant for use in national emergencies are illegal.
"Hong Kong's market didn't have quite as long a holiday as we enjoyed the Chinese mainland and had its tariff ruling bump yesterday, when Hang Seng added almost 2.5 percent. Today though things slipped back. We saw the index down 1.8 percent, mirroring a pull-back on Wall Street overnight," said Pope.
The analyst pointed out that one of the most closely watched events on the bourse is a takeover by Panamanian authorities of two Panama Canal ports operated by Hong Kong-based conglomerate CK Hutchison.
"One of the major movers was investment holding company CK Hutchison, which had all those port contracts along the Panama Canal, until they were ruled to be in violation of Panama's constitution by Panamanian courts. Two rival port contractors -- Maersk and MSC have taken over operations at the moment and CK Hutchison's subsidiary staff have been removed from those ports today under the threat of prosecution if they remain. This story is still far from over. CKH told the Hong Kong Stock Exchange today that the court-ordered takeover is unlawful and that the company is considering legal action both within the Panama and internationally as well. The ruling was made at the end of January, as it said, but was only fully officially published on Monday. The Hong Kong government has also weighed in on this, issuing a statement, saying that Panama should respect the spirit of business deals and commit to making the country a fair business environment. CKH shares were down 2.7 percent today," said Pope.
As for Japan, the 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average ended up 495.39 points, or 0.87 percent, from Friday at 57,321.09. The broader Topix index finished 7.50 points, or 0.20 percent, higher at 3,815.98.
The analyst attributed the increases largely to optimism on huge investment opportunities generated from Nvidia's reported plan to invest in OpenAI.
"Over in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 rose after a long weekend in Japan, adding 0.9 percent. A lot of that was on boosted tech investment hopes. The major fuel for those gains are reports of a potential investment by Nvidia into OpenAI. Reuters has reported that the chip maker and the AI developer are close to agreeing terms for a 30-billion U.S. dollar deal. This would almost certainly mean more data centers on which to train AI models and more chips to be made, all of which need Japanese tech. Some of the biggest companies on the Nikkei are tech infrastructure providers like chip testing equipment makers and fiber optic cable manufacturers. One of the latter -- Furukawa Electric, rose 15 percent today," said Pope.
The analyst noted that shares of Japanese arms makers dipped.
"Elsewhere on the Japanese markets we saw defense-linked stocks fall. That came after the Chinese government published an export control list that is aimed at slowing what it called Japan's re-militarization," said Pope.
Hong Kong stocks slip, Japanese shares end higher on Monday
