Casino operators reliant upon Macau rose sharply on Friday after Chinese regulators moved to relax Zero-COVID policies.
Under the new pandemic regulation guidelines, international travelers arriving in China must now observe a 5+3 regimen whereby they are quarantined in a hotel for 5 days and then self-isolated for three days. The prior restriction had called for a 7 day quarantine. The so-called “circuit breaker mechanism” that would cancel flights for one positive case has also been scrapped while passengers traveling to China will now only need to provide one negative test prior to departure rather than the previous demand of two within 48 hours of flight.
“The measures vowed to deal with excessive and one-size-fits-all measures seriously, banning unreasonable steps to lock down schools, suspend traffic or clinical service,” the state-backed Global Times wrote on Friday. “Such violations would be punished seriously according to regulations and laws.”
The Hang Seng Index rocketed 7.74% higher on the news while China-based travel-oriented stocks like Trip.com ( TCOM ) +7.45% roared higher. Of course, in terms of specific sectors, casino operators with key investments in Macau were among the most impacted .
In pre-market trading, shares of Melco Resorts ( NASDAQ: MLCO ) +6.54% , Las Vegas Sands ( NYSE: LVS ) +4.38% , and Wynn Resorts ( NASDAQ: WYNN ) +3.54% each marked sharp gains. The rise in shares projects to add to a strong gain for the sector on Thursday amid a broader risk-on rally.
Macau-specific casino stocks: Wynn Macau ( OTCPK:WYNMF ) ( OTCPK:WYNMY ), Sands China ( OTCPK:SCHYY ) ( OTCPK:SCHYF ), MGM China ( OTCPK:MCHVF ) ( OTCPK:MCHVY ), Galaxy Entertainment ( OTCPK:GXYEF ), SJM Holdings ( OTCPK:SJMHF ) ( OTCPK:SJMHY ), and Studio City International ( MSC ).
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Macau casino stocks boosted as Beijing backs off certain restrictions