Hong Kong stocks end flat; financials gain on mainland regulatory revamp

Hong Kong and China Gas

13/03/2018 08:34

* Hang Seng index ends flat
    * China Enterprises index HSCE rises 0.4 percent 
    * HSI financial sector sub-index is flat; property sector
down 0.2
percent

    SHANGHAI, March 13 (Reuters) - Hong Kong shares ended flat
on Tuesday as investors pondered over the impact of a government
reshuffle on the mainland.
** Market participants also awaited the U.S. inflation data
later in the day which could offer clues on the pace of interest
rate rises this year.    
** China is merging its banking and insurance regulators and
giving new powers to policymaking bodies such as the central
bank in the biggest government shake-up in years.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N1QV019 
** "The consolidation of the banking and insurance regulators
would streamline and unify regulation, especially on
shadow-banking activities, by reducing the room for regulatory
arbitrage," Moody's wrote in a report.
** At close of trade, the Hang Seng index was flat at 31,601.45,
while the Hang Seng China Enterprises index  .HSCE  rose 0.4
percent to 12,746.78.
 
** The sub-index of the Hang Seng tracking energy shares
 .HSCIE  dipped 1.1 percent while the IT sector  .HSCIIT  rose
0.44 percent, the financial sector  .HSNF  was 0.37 percent
higher and property sector dipped 0.25 percent .
 
** The top gainer on Hang Seng was Hong Kong and China Gas Co
Ltd  0003.HK  up 1.79 percent, while the biggest loser was WH
Group Ltd  0288.HK  which was down 1.98 percent.
 
** China's main Shanghai Composite index  .SSEC  closed down
0.46 percent at 3,326.6992 while its blue-chip CSI300 index
 .CSI300  ended down 0.85 percent.
 
** Around the region, MSCI's Asia ex-Japan stock index
 .MIAPJ0000PUS  was firmer by 0.22 percent while Japan's Nikkei
index  .N225  closed up 0.66 percent.
 
** The yuan  CNY=CFXS  was quoted at 6.3321 per U.S. dollar at
08:08 GMT, 0.06 percent weaker than the previous close of 6.328.
 
** As of the previous trading session, the Hang Seng index was
up 5.6 percent this year, while China's H-share index was up 8.4
percent. As of the previous close, the Hang Seng has risen 2.43
percent this month.
 
** The top gainers among H-shares were Agricultural Bank of
China Ltd  1288.HK  up 4.92 percent, followed by Guangdong
Investment Ltd  0270.HK  gaining 1.97 percent and Bank of China
Ltd  3988.HK  up by 1.61 percent.
 
** The three biggest H-shares percentage decliners were New
China Life Insurance Co Ltd  1336.HK  which was down 2.03
percent, CNOOC Ltd  0883.HK  which fell 1.9 percent and China
Gas Holdings Ltd  0384.HK  down by 1.7 percent.
 
** About 2.18 billion Hang Seng index shares were traded,
roughly 84 percent of the market's 30-day moving average of 2.59
billion shares a day. The volume traded in the previous trading
session was 2.24 billion.
 
** At close, China's A-shares were trading at a premium of 24.32
percent over the Hong Kong-listed H-shares.
 
** The price-to-earnings ratio of the Hang Seng index was 13.6
as of the last full trading day while the dividend yield was 2.7
percent.

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