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SHANGHAI, March 17 (Reuters) – China shares rose on Thursday, extending a jump from the previous session after the country’s top policymaker assured markets of stability and support, with hope for a breakthrough in ceasefire talks between Russian and Ukraine also boosting sentiment.

The CSI300 index rose 3.2%, to 4,288.68 points at the end of the morning session, while the Shanghai Composite Index gained 2.6%, to 3,252.96.

The Hang Seng index added 5.8%, to 21,250.97.The Hong Kong China Enterprises Index gained 6.3%, to 7,321.86.

The indexes had surged on Wednesday after Vice Premier Liu He said Beijing would roll out more support for the Chinese economy as well as be cautious with measures for capital markets, which helped put a floor under sectors hurt by a prolonged regulatory crackdown.

Liu’s comments were followed by supportive messages from five top financial regulatory bodies in the day, including the People’s Bank of China, the China Securities Regulatory Commission and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange.

“With China´s top leadership shifting their focus to expectation management, the line in the sand has been drawn. This may help markets find the bottom in the near term,” Tommy Xie, vice president and head of Greater China Research at OCBC said in a note to clients, adding a policy rate cut could come before the end of March.

“In addition, attractive valuations may also attract long term investors should geopolitical risks not escalate further from here,” he said.

The supportive comments also snapped seven straight sessions of outflows through China’s Stock Connect programme on Wednesday.Refinitiv data showed inflows totalled 3.5 billion yuan ($550 million) by the midday break on Thursday. ,

Liu also said the government would continue to support local firms that seek to list overseas and added that China’s talks with U.S. regulators on overseas listings of Chinese firms have made positive progress.

Tech firms listed in Hong Kong rose more than 7% on Thursday, after a record 22% surge on Wednesday.

Internet giants and index heavyweights Alibaba Group and Meituan both gained more than 10%, while video-platform provider Bilibili Inc and search engine giant Baidu Inc jumped more than 15% each.

However, to deal with a slowing economy and China’s sweeping regulatory crackdown, Alibaba and Tencent Holdings are preparing to cut tens of thousands of jobs combined this year in one of their biggest layoff rounds, sources said.

Mainland developers trading in Hong Kong soared roughly 15%, after the official Xinhua news agency reported late Wednesday that China was putting a planned property tax trial this year on ice, citing the finance ministry.

The move helped ease concerns of more tightening measures in the floundering real estate sector, which has slumped for months as Beijing’s campaign to reduce high debt levels triggered a liquidity crisis at some major property developers that spooked potential home buyers.

Sunac China Holdings led the jump with a nearly 50% gain, while Country Garden Holdings, China’s top property developer by sale, and the debt-laden Evergrande Group added more than 20 each.

Developments in talks between Moscow and Kyiv also buoyed investor sentiment.Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said negotiations were becoming “more realistic”, while Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said proposals now being discussed were “in my view close to an agreement”.

Markets took a widely expected rate hike by the U.S.Federal Reserve in stride, despite worries about weakening global growth . The Hong Kong Monetary Authority followed suit with a 25 basis point increase of its own, as the city’s currency is pegged to the U.S. dollar.

While China’s official economic data for January and Febrary was unexpectedly upbeat, analysts say more policy support is still needed, with rising COVID-19 cases, pts terbaik sumatera a weak property market and global fallout from the war in Ukraine clouding the outlook.

Mainland China reported 1,317 new confirmed coronavirus cases on March 16, the national health authority said on Thursday, dropping slightly from 1,952 a day earlier.

The surging COVID-19 cases and China’s zero-Covid policy are pointing to “sizeable downside risk to macro and corporate earnings,” Morgan Stanley said in a note, adding it would like to see an improvement on this for “higher conviction on a sustainable rally.”

(Reporting by Jason Xue and Andrew Galbraith; Editing by Kim Coghill)