Hong Kong shares end at 2-month low on tariff hike fears

Hengan International

09/05/2019 09:51

* Hang Seng index ends down 2.39 pct
    * China Enterprises index HSCE falls 2.27 pct 
    * HSI financial sector sub-index 2.9 pct lower
    * Property sector down 2.1 pct 

    May 9 (Reuters) - Shares in Hong Kong ended sharply lower on
Thursday as investors worried over whether Chinese and U.S.
trade negotiators will be able to salvage a trade deal before a
looming deadline for fresh U.S. tariff hikes on Chinese goods.
    
** At the close of trade, the Hang Seng index was down 692.13
points or 2.39 percent at 28,311.07, its lowest close since
March 8. The drop brought losses for the index to 5.9 percent
for the week so far. The Hang Seng China Enterprises index
 .HSCE  fell 2.27 percent to 10,845.06.
 
** Trading volumes surged, with about 3.00 billion Hang Seng
index shares traded, roughly 176.8 percent of the market's
30-day moving average of 1.70 billion shares a day. 
 
** U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday China "broke
the deal" it had reached in trade talks with the United States,
and vowed not to back down on imposing new tariffs on Chinese
imports unless Beijing "stops cheating our workers." 
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL2N22K1LF 
 
** The U.S. Trade Representative's office announced that tariffs
on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods would increase to 25
percent from 10 percent at 12:01 a.m. (0401) GMT on Friday,
right in the middle of two days of meetings between Chinese Vice
Premier Liu He and Trump's top trade officials in Washington.
 
** China's commerce ministry said Thursday that China is fully
prepared to defend its interests in its trade war with the
United States, but hopes Washington can resolve problems through
dialogue instead of unilateral steps.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N22L2GR
 
** "The markets are still very much on the fence whether this
week's trade developments are just hardball tactic from Trump or
the start of an authentic threat to the global growth
narrative," Stephen Innes, head of trading and market strategy
at SPI Asset Management, said in a note.
 
** "The confusing news flow is not helping the matter either as
muddled signals from Washington or Beijing especially with time
running out on China, suggests investors could very well be
facing down the barrel of increased tariffs," Innes said.
 
** The sub-index of the Hang Seng tracking energy shares
 .HSCIE  dipped 1.4 percent, while the IT sector  .HSCIIT 
dipped 2.3 percent, the financial sector  .HSNF  ended 2.87
percent lower and the property sector dipped 2.07 percent.
 
** The top gainer on the Hang Seng was Hengan International
Group Company Ltd  1044.HK , which gained 0.44 percent, while
the biggest loser was Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd  0175.HK ,
which fell 5.99 percent.
 
** China's main Shanghai Composite index  .SSEC  closed down
1.48 percent at 2,850.95, while the blue-chip CSI300 index
 .CSI300  ended down 1.85 percent. Both indexes ended at their
lowest closing levels since Feb. 22.
 
** Around the region, MSCI's Asia ex-Japan stock index
 .MIAPJ0000PUS  was weaker by 1.83 percent, while Japan's Nikkei
index  .N225  closed down 0.93 percent.
 
** The yuan  CNY=CFXS  was quoted at 6.8185 per U.S. dollar at
08:26 GMT, 0.52 percent weaker than the previous close of
6.7831. The offshore yuan  CNH=D3  weakened 0.62 percent to
6.8503 per dollar.
 
** The top gainers among H-shares were Guangdong Investment Ltd
 0270.HK  up 2.55 percent, followed by China Telecom Corp Ltd
 0728.HK , gaining 1.76 percent and CRRC Corp Ltd  1766.HK , up
by 0.6 percent.
 
** The three biggest H-shares percentage decliners were China
Tower Corp Ltd  0788.HK , which was down 5.80 percent, Huatai
Securities Co Ltd  6886.HK , which fell 4.9 percent and China
Merchants Bank Co Ltd  3968.HK , down by 4.7 percent.

 (Reporting by Andrew Galbraith; editing by Gopakumar Warrier)
 ((Andrew.Galbraith@tr.com; +86 21 6104 1779; Reuters Messaging:
andrew.galbraith.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net ; Twitter: https://twitter.com/apgalbraith))