Hong Kong stocks extend fall as western sanctions on China weigh
23/03/2021 08:41
* HK->Shanghai Connect daily quota used -4%, Shanghai->HK
daily
quota used -0.9%
* HSI -1.3%, HSCE -1.7%, CSI300 -1.0%
* FTSE China A50 -0.6%
March 23 (Reuters) - Hong Kong shares closed lower for a
third straight session on Tuesday, dragged down by consumer
discretionary and material stocks, as western sanctions against
China weighed on investor sentiment.
** The Hang Seng index .HSI fell 1.3%, to 28,497.38, while
the China Enterprises Index .HSCE lost 1.7%, to 11,111.18.
** The United States, the European Union, Britain and Canada
imposed sanctions on Chinese officials on Monday for human
rights abuses in Xinjiang, and Beijing hit back immediately with
broad punitive measures against the EU. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2LK1T1
** The Hang Seng consumer discretionary index .HSCICD and
the Hang Seng materials index .HSCIH fell the most, down 4%
and 5.6%, respectively.
** Tech firms, which are sensitive to Sino-U.S. relations,
also dropped, with the Hang Seng tech index .HSTECH closing
down 2.5%.
** Curbing investor sentiment further, shares of Chinese
e-cigarette makers slumped as Beijing plans to tighten
regulations. Smoore International Holdings Ltd 6969.HK tumbled
as much as 39.3% before ending 27.2% lower. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2LL02W
** Baidu 9888.HK made a tepid debut in its Hong Kong
secondary stock listing, bucking a trend of first-day pops on
the bourse, as investors were wary of a fundraising flurry in
the city and questioned the search company's growth plans.
urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2LL02J
** Around the region, MSCI's Asia ex-Japan stock index
.MIAPJ0000PUS was weaker by 0.66%, while Japan's Nikkei index
.N225 closed down 0.61%.
** The yuan CNY=CFXS was quoted at 6.5113 per U.S. dollar
at 08:15 GMT, 0.04% weaker than the previous close of 6.5084.
** At close, China's A-shares were trading at a premium of
34.51% over Hong Kong-listed H-shares.
(Reporting by the Shanghai Newsroom; Editing by Subhranshu
Sahu)
((luoyan.liu@thomsonreuters.com; Reuters Messaging:
luoyan.liu.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))