Hong Kong stocks fall as protests, trade worries linger

Hengan International

22/08/2019 09:28

* HSI -0.8%, HSCE -0.5%, CSI300 +0.3%
    * FTSE China A50 +0.4%
    * HK->Shanghai Connect daily quota used 1.2%
    * Shanghai->HK daily quota used 5.7%

    Aug 22 (Reuters) - Hong Kong stocks closed lower on
Thursday, amid persistent worries over political protests and
Sino-U.S. trade tensions. 
    ** The Hang Seng index  .HSI  fell 0.8% to 26,048.72, while
the China Enterprises Index  .HSCE  lost 0.5% to 10,122.90.
    ** Hong Kong banks published full-page newspaper ads calling
for law and order in the Chinese-ruled city and international
jewellers sought the rescheduling of a huge trade fair as weeks
of pro-democracy protests showed no sign of letup on Thursday.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N25I2BV 
    ** Real estate and services companies, seen vulnerable to
protests, led the losses for the day. The Hang Seng properties
index  .HSNP  dropped 1.9%, led by Henderson Land Development
 0012.HK  losing 3.1%.
    ** Investors were also concerned by the developments on the
trade war front.
    ** U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday said he was "the
chosen one" to address trade imbalances with China, even as
congressional researchers warned that his tariffs would reduce
U.S. economic output by 0.3% in 2020.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL2N25H124  
    ** China hopes the United States will stop its wrong tariff
action, the commerce ministry said on Thursday, adding that any
new tariffs would lead to escalation, despite delays in
implementing the levies.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nB9N24D00Z   
    ** Around the region, MSCI's Asia ex-Japan stock index
 .MIAPJ0000PUS  was weaker by 0.44%, while Japan's Nikkei index
 .N225  closed up 0.05%.
    ** The yuan  CNY=CFXS  was quoted at 7.0823 per U.S. dollar
at 0814 GMT, 0.27% weaker than the previous close of 7.0633.
    ** At close, China's A-shares were trading at a premium of
29.72% over Hong Kong-listed H-shares.

 (Reporting by the Shanghai Newsroom; editing by Gopakumar
Warrier)
 ((luoyan.liu@thomsonreuters.com; Reuters Messaging:
luoyan.liu.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))