Hong Kong shares hit 10-week closing low on policy tightening concerns (updated)

Guangdong Investment

24/03/2021 08:40

* HSI -2%, HSCE -2.4%
    * Fed's Kaplan says he expects rate hike in 2022
    * Tencent's Ma meets anti-trust officials

 (Updates with closing prices)
    BEIJING/SHANGHAI, March 24 (Reuters) - Hong Kong stocks
marked their lowest close in more than 10 weeks on Wednesday,
tracking an overnight slump in Wall Street, on concerns of
potential U.S. rate hikes and global policy tightening.
    Elevated U.S. Treasury yields also dampened risk appetite,
sending the Hang Seng index  .HSI  down 2.03% to 27,918.14, its
weakest close since Jan. 11. The Hang Seng China Enterprises
index  .HSCE  fell 2.37% to 10,847.98.
    With more people getting vaccinated against the coronavirus
and as the economy continues to improve, Dallas Federal Reserve
President Robert Kaplan said on Tuesday he is among the
policymakers expecting the central bank to start raising rates
as soon as next year.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2LL14K
    On Wall Street overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average
 .DJI  fell 0.94%, the S&P 500  .SPX  lost 0.76% and the Nasdaq
Composite  .IXIC  dropped 1.12%.  .N 
    "Investors in Hong Kong are following the overnight
risk-averse sentiment in Wall Street as Treasury yield continued
hiking," said Zhang Yanbin, an analyst with Zheshang Securities.
"The expectation of Fed to start raising rates in the near
future also weighed."
    Pony Ma, the reticent founder of Tencent Holdings  0700.HK ,
met with the country's anti-trust watchdog officials this month
to discuss compliance at his group, two people with direct
knowledge said, an indication that China's antitrust crackdown
could soon target other internet behemoths.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2LL27L   
    Leading losses on the Hang Seng index, IT stocks  .HSCIIT 
fell 2.4%. Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd  0175.HK , down 11.75%,
was the biggest decliner.
    China's main Shanghai Composite index  .SSEC  closed down
1.3% at 3,367.06 points, while the blue-chip CSI300 index
 .CSI300  ended down 1.61%.
    Around the region, MSCI's Asia ex-Japan stock index
 .MIAPJ0000PUS  was 1.22% weaker, while Japan's Nikkei index
 .N225  closed 2.04% lower.
    The yuan  CNY=CFXS  was quoted at 6.5251 per U.S. dollar at
0811 GMT, 0.14% weaker than the previous close of 6.516.   

 (Reporting by Shanghai Newsroom, Editing by Sherry
Jacob-Phillips and Devika Syamnath)
 ((zoey.zhang@thomsonreuters.com))