China approves 60 new games, boosting tech firm shares

China has approved the release of dozens of new video games, boosting the shares of some of its biggest tech firms on Wednesday.

Officials in China – the world's biggest gaming market – rolled out a series of restrictions last year, including capping the amount of gaming time for children with the stated aim of fighting addiction and freezing approvals for new games for nine months.

China's National Press and Publication Administration said on Tuesday it had approved 60 new games, following the year's first batch of approvals in April.

Titles from Tencent or NetEase were not among the latest approvals, but they did include games from Perfect World and miHoYo – developer of the international hit "Genshin Impact."

"We are delighted to see established studios such as Perfect World, Shengqu Games, MiHoYo and Changyou obtained approval titles this time, which we believe could indicate higher possibilities for Tencent's and NetEase's titles to be approved in coming batches," said Citi analysts in a note.

"The approval announcement will also send a positive signal of policy support to the overall China Internet sector."

Chinese tech stocks surged in Hong Kong on the news, building on the positive sentiment among investors and analysts.

At the break in Hong Kong, Tencent was up 4.7 percent while NetEase climbed 2.9 percent

The gaming news also boosted other major tech stocks – Hong Kong market heavyweight Alibaba was up more than eight percent and JD.com piling on more than four percent.