Investec upgrades HSBC on lending revival

Investec has upgraded HSBC, saying the banking group is regaining its appetite for lending.The broker, which has upgraded HSBC to 'add' from 'hold', said it has held off from advising investors to buy shares in HSBC until now because it believed the bank either could not or would not increase lending quickly enough to properly use liquidity and emerging capital surpluses.Investec said it believed the bank would fail to hit its 12% return on equity target before 2018.But it said it was "very pleasantly surprised" by resurgent growth in the second quarter, led by Asia."We are mightily encouraged by evidence of returning risk appetite. We upgrade to 'add' from 'hold' and our target price to 650p from 620p," the broker said.Shares fell 7.2p or 1.13% to 627.3p at 12:06 in London.