Hong Kong market closes higher, as US-China trade war fears weigh on mainland Chinese stocks
- Shanghai Composite closes down 0.92 per cent, surrenders September gains
- Budweiser Brewing rises by more than 4 per cent in Hong Kong on debut
The Hong Kong market closed higher on Monday, boosted by heavyweights in telecom and energy, while fears about the US delisting Chinese companies weighed on sentiment in mainland China, where the Shanghai Composite fell to a monthly low, wiping out all its September gains.
The Shanghai Composite closed 0.92 per cent down at 2,905.19 on Monday, while the Shenzhen Component Index closed 1.1 per cent lower at 9,446.2. The technology-heavy ChiNext Index closed 1.2 per cent lower at 1,627.55.
Technology and financial stocks led the declines. Hikvision, China’s biggest producer of surveillance equipment, fell 2.7 per cent to 32.3 yuan, while Citic Securities fell 2.5 per cent to 22.5 yuan.
Stocks fell broadly across Star Market, the new board launched in Shanghai for fundraising by technology companies. Espressif Systems Shanghai, a semiconductor manufacturer, tumbled by 15 per cent to 150.5 yuan.
But all three debuting stocks on the board skyrocketed – Beijing Hotgen Biotech rose 140.6 per cent, Hillstone Networks recorded a 112.7 per cent increase, while Shenzhen Transsion Holdings rose 64.4 per cent.
“People were worried about the damage caused by a more aggressive stance by the Trump administration against listed Chinese firms this morning,” said Kevin Leung, executive director of investment strategy at Hong Kong-based brokerage Haitong International. But the chances of it being formalised into policy were “slim”, “because it will be very difficult and also a double-edged sword”, he said.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index closed 0.33 per cent higher at 26039.57. Budweiser Brewing, which debuted on its main board, closed 4.4 per cent higher at HK$28.2. Malaysian civil and structural works contractor TBK & Sons Holdings rose on its debut, by 60 per cent to HK$0.8. But local financial services provider LFG Investment Holdings slumped 36 per cent from its IPO price to close at HK$1.07.
Shares of Cosco Shipping Energy Transportation tumbled by 21.1 per cent to HK$3.47, after trading resumed on Monday. The company confirmed a direct subsidiary had been put on a sanctions list by the US, after media reports that two of Chinese shipping giant Cosco’s units had been blacklisted last week for transporting Iranian crude.
On the macro front, China’s National Bureau of Statistics announced that the official PMI stood at 49.8 for September, up by 0.3 percentage points over August, exceeding a polled result of 49.5 put out by Reuters.
“Despite broad-based improvements, the headline PMI remained in contractionary territory for a fifth month in a row, indicating that economic fundamentals are still weak,” analysts at the bank said in a note, adding that they still did not expect a rebound in the fourth quarter.
The Hong Kong stock exchange will be closed on Tuesday because of the National Day holiday. Northbound and southbound trading on the stock connects will be suspended until Monday, with mainland Chinese markets shut until October 8 for “golden week”.
Additional reporting by Holly Chik
