February 18th, Tuesday

High-level Voices: 
At the symposium on private enterprises, national leaders emphasized that the basic policy guidelines of the Party and the state for the development of the private economy have been incorporated into the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics. These will be consistently upheld and implemented, and they will not change.

Overall Sentiment: 
Yesterday's symposium was compared to the one in 2018, from the number of attendees to the positioning and smiles.
However, judging by the content of the speech, it was clearly less forceful than in 2018, when many supportive policies were announced.
This time, it was stated that our environment is good, it hasn't changed, and it won't change.
Hong Kong stocks represent the attitude of foreign capital, which saw profit-taking at the opening with no significant recovery throughout the day. Foreign investors might be more focused on the content of the meeting rather than its symbolic significance.