Chinese stocks jumped on Friday after Beijing promised new measures to help consumers, defying a Wall Street sell-off and pushing the country’s main stock index into positive territory for the year.

Chinese authorities announced late on Thursday that they would hold a press conference on “boosting consumption” on Monday. This helped push the country’s CSI 300 benchmark 2.4 per cent higher. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index climbed 2.2 per cent.

The CSI 300 is up 1.8 per cent year to date and the Hang Seng has gained 19.4 per cent since the start of the year, while Wall Street’s S&P 500 is down 6.1 per cent.