* SSEC -0.6%, CSI300 -0.5%, HSI -0.3%
* HK->Shanghai Connect daily quota used 0.7%, Shanghai->HK daily quota used 1.7%
* FTSE China A50 -0.4%
SHANGHAI, April 24 (Reuters) – China stocks eased on Friday and were set for weekly declines amid lingering coronavirus worries, but losses were limited as Beijing pledged more support to shore up the world’s second- largest economy.
** The CSI300 index fell 0.5% to 3,812.02 at the end of the morning session, while the Shanghai Composite Index slid 0.6% to 2,820.58.
** For the week, SSEC was down 0.6%, while CSI300 shed 0.7%, outperforming MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan.
** China’s central bank cut the interest rate on its targeted medium-term lending facility (TMLF) on Friday, following similar reductions to borrowing costs on other liquidity tools in the past few weeks to support the economy.
** “The role of TMLF as a low-cost alternative to MLF is diminishing, as there are various measures providing cheaper funding already,” said Frances Cheung, head of Asia macro strategy at Westpac in Singapore.
** The day’s losses were in line with other Asian markets, spurred by doubts about progress in developing drugs to treat COVID-19 and new evidence of U.S. economic damage caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
** U.S. business activity plumbed record lows in April, mirroring dire figures from Europe and Asia as strict stay-at-home orders crushed production, supply chains and consumer spending, a survey showed.
** Bucking the broad retreat on Friday, China’s new energy vehicle-related shares climbed as Beijing planned to extend subsidies for buying NEVs.
** China is stepping up measures to boost domestic demand, including the latest NEV subsidy extension plan, Everbright Securities noted in report.
** Long-term value investors could gradually buy stocks now, as A-shares’ valuations are relatively low, the brokerage added.
** Mainland China reported six new coronavirus cases as of end-April 23, down from 10 reported a day earlier, putting the total number of COVID-19 infections at 82,804.
** In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index dropped 0.3%, to 23,911.34 points, while the Hong Kong China Enterprises Index lost 0.2%, to 9,686.15. (Reporting by Luoyan Liu and Andrew Galbraith; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)