Hong Kong stocks post worst week in four as virus fears grow

China Resources Gas

28/02/2020 09:09

* Hang Seng down 2.4%, H-shares fall 2.7%
    * Both indexes had worst week since late Jan.
    * Coronavirus spreads beyond China, spooks global markets
    * Trading volume highest since Feb. 2019

    HONG KONG, Feb 28 (Reuters) - Hong Kong stocks fell on
Friday, posting their worst week in a month, as the rapid spread
of the coronavirus across the world sparked fears of contagion
and sent global markets reeling.
    
** At the close of trade, the Hang Seng index  .HIS  was down
2.4% at 26,129.93. The index is down 4.3% week-on-week and 0.7%
from the previous month.
    
** The Hang Seng China Enterprises index  .HSCE  fell 2.7% on
Friday, down 4.5% from the previous week but up 0.6% from
January.
 
** Both indexes marked their worst week since late January. 
    
** The sub-index of the Hang Seng tracking energy shares
 .HSCIE  dipped 3.5%, the IT sector  .HSCIIT  lost 3.4%, the
financial sector  .HSNF  ended 2% lower and the property sector
 .HSNP  fell 2.2%.

** Countries on three continents reported their first cases of
the coronavirus on Friday as the world prepared for a pandemic
of the disease and investors dumped equities in expectation of a
global recession.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N2AR0AY
    
** Chinese policymakers have implemented a raft of measures to
support an economy jolted by a coronavirus outbreak that is
expected to have a devastating impact on first-quarter growth.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2AA2CR 

** On Wednesday, Hong Kong unveiled a record budget deficit,
pledging cash handouts to residents and business tax breaks to
soften the blow to the recession-hit economy from often-violent
protests and the coronavirus.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL5N2AQ072

** China's monetary policy to hedge the impact of the
coronavirus could release ample liquidity, which bodes well for
Hong Kong equities, said Lin Hongyi, analyst at Yunfeng
Financial Group, in a report. 

** After the launch of the Stock Connect, Hong Kong stocks,
given its lower valuations than their mainland peers, have been
attracting long-term funds from the mainland, Lin said. 
    

** On Friday, southbound flows into the Asian financial hub
continued their strong momentum, with mainland investors
purchasing nearly 5 billion yuan worth of HK-listed shares.

** At close, China's A-shares were trading at a premium of
26.73% over Hong Kong-listed H-shares.  .HSCAHPI 
    
** About 3.19 billion Hang Seng index shares were traded,
highest daily volume since Feb. 2019. The volume traded in the
previous trading session was 2.11 billion.
    

 (Reporting by Luoyan Liu and Noah Sin; Editing by Amy Caren
Daniel)
 ((luoyan.liu@thomsonreuters.com; Reuters Messaging:
luoyan.liu.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))