Hong Kong shares fall as growth, trade war worries weigh

Hong Kong and China Gas

29/05/2019 09:35

* Hang Seng index ends down 0.57%, HSCE slips 0.25%
    * HSI financial sector sub-index 0.5% lower; property sector
falls
0.6%
    * Dual-listed insurance firms post strong gains
    * Rare earth producer soars as trade war rhetoric ratchets
up

    May 29 (Reuters) - Hong Kong shares fell on Wednesday,
tracking losses around the region as investor sentiment soured
over mounting worries about world growth, with trade tensions
between the United States and China showing no signs of easing.
 
** At the close of trade, the Hang Seng index  .HSI  was down
155.10 points, or 0.57%, at 27,235.71. The Hang Seng China
Enterprises index  .HSCE  fell 0.25% to 10,390.45.
 
** The sub-index of the Hang Seng tracking energy shares
 .HSCIE  dipped 0.6%, while the IT sector  .HSCIIT  dipped 0.9%,
the financial sector  .HSNF  ended 0.53% lower and the property
sector dipped 0.63%.
 
** Shares of China Rare Earth Holdings Ltd  0769.HK  jumped
23.53% after reports that Beijing is mulling restricting exports
of the materials to the United States.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2350C3   
 
** Major Chinese newspapers warned the United States on
Wednesday that China is ready to use rare earths to strike back
in their bitter trade war, with the ruling Communist Party's
People's Daily newspaper saying in an extremely strongly worded
commentary, "don't say we didn't warn you".  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2350SR
 
** The top gainer on the Hang Seng was Hong Kong and China Gas
Co Ltd  0003.HK , which gained 1.15%, while the biggest loser
was Sands China Ltd  1928.HK , which fell 2.84%.
 
** China's main Shanghai Composite index  .SSEC  closed up 0.16%
at 2,914.70 points, while the blue-chip CSI300 index  .CSI300 
ended down 0.23%.
 
** Around the region, MSCI's Asia ex-Japan stock index
 .MIAPJ0000PUS  was weaker by 0.71%, while Japan's Nikkei index
 .N225  closed down 1.21%.
 
** The yuan  CNY=CFXS  was quoted at 6.91 per U.S. dollar at
08:22 GMT, 0.03% weaker than the previous close of 6.908. 
 
** The top gainers among H-shares were PICC Property and
Casualty Co Ltd  2328.HK  up 4.97%, followed by New China Life
Insurance Co Ltd  1336.HK , gaining 3.78% and China Pacific
Insurance Group Co Ltd  2601.HK , up by 3.2%.
 
** The rise in insurance firms' H-shares was matched by gains in
their A-shares, prompted by what analysts say are attractively
low valuations.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2351E0
 
** The three biggest H-shares percentage decliners were CGN
Power Co Ltd  1816.HK , which was down 1.87%, Haitong Securities
Co Ltd  6837.HK , which fell 1.8% and GF Securities Co Ltd
 1776.HK , down by 1.7%.
 
** About 2.31 billion Hang Seng index shares were traded,
roughly 129.5% of the market's 30-day moving average of 1.78
billion shares a day. The volume traded in the previous trading
session was 3.14 billion.
 

 (Reporting by Andrew Galbraith; Editing by Rashmi Aich)
 ((Andrew.Galbraith@tr.com; +86 21 2083 0079; Reuters Messaging:
andrew.galbraith.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net ; Twitter: https://twitter.com/apgalbraith))