China tech shares rally on reform cheer for the second day; Hang Seng down

SSEC -0.2%, CSI300 0.2%, HSI -0.5%

HK->Shanghai Connect daily quota used 4.1%, Shanghai->HK daily quota used 0.9%

FTSE China A50 +0.6%

BEIJING/SHANGHAI, AUG 25 (Reuters) - Shares on China's tech-heavy start-up board ChiNext extended gains for a second day on Tuesday, as investors cheered Beijing's market reforms to help foster its tech sector.

** At the midday break, China's blue-chip CSI300 index .CSI300 was up 0.24%, with its consumer staples sector .CSI000912 up 1.98%. The Shanghai Composite index .SSEC was down 0.19% at 3,379.12 points.

** ChiNext .CNT rose 0.95%, while the STAR50 index .STAR50 was down 1.3%.

** Shares of 14 companies surged for a second day after their debut on the ChiNext board on Monday, following a historic reform that relaxed the listing requirements and trading rules of the bourse. The reform also allows Shenzhen to officially challenge Shanghai for tech listing.

** BOC International analysts wrote that a revamped ChiNext board will benefit brokerages who have listing projects on hand and new shares in the short term, and tech shares in the long run.

** Guangdong Modern High-tech Fiber Co 300876.SZ surged by 35.4% on its second day of listing, while Xinjiang Tianshan Animal Husbandry Bio-Engineer 300313.SZ surged by 20% in the morning session.

** New ChiNext shares can now trade without daily cap for the first five trading days, and can trade up to 20% in sessions afterwards. It allowed shares to rise or fall up to 10% previously.

** To add relief to the market, China said on Tuesday it agreed with the U.S. to continue pushing forward the implementation of the Phase 1 trade deal reached earlier this year during a call between top trade negotiators of the two countries.

** In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index .HSI was down 0.53% at 25,416.36, while the Hong Kong China Enterprises Index .HSCE fell 0.74% to 10,259.98.

** Around the region, MSCI's Asia ex-Japan stock index .MIAPJ0000PUS was firmer by 1.38%, while Japan's Nikkei index .N225 was up 1.84%.

** The yuan CNY=CFXS was quoted at 6.91 per U.S. dollar, 0.13% firmer than the previous close of 6.919.

(Reporting by Cheng Leng in Beijing, Luoyan Liu and Andrew Galbraith in Shanghai; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)

((cheng.leng@thomsonreuters.com; +8610-5669-2129;))

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