Hong Kong stocks fall the most in 3 weeks on global trade war fears
02/03/2018 08:59
* Hang Seng index ends down 1.5 pct
* China Enterprises index HSCE falls 1.8 percent
* HSI financial sector sub-index is 1.7 percent lower
* Property sector down 1 percent
March 2 (Reuters) - Hong Kong stocks fell the most in three
weeks on Friday, bringing the week's loss to over 2 percent, as
concerns of a global trade war hit already shaky confidence due
to prospects of a faster pace of U.S. monetary tightening.
** U.S. President Donald Trump announced hefty tariffs on steel
and aluminium imports, sparking concerns of a global trade war.
** The Hang Seng index .HSI fell 1.5 percent, to 30,583.45,
while the China Enterprises Index .HSCE lost 1.8 percent to
12,203.91 points.
** Major Chinese steelmaker Angang Steel 0347.HK fell over 2
percent, Maanshan Iron 0323.HK lost nearly 5 percent while
Aluminum Corp of China 2600.HK was down 2.6 percent.
** The sub-index of the Hang Seng tracking energy shares
.HSCIE dipped 1.8 percent while the IT sector .HSCIIT dipped
2.21 percent, the financial sector .HSNF was 1.75 percent
lower and the property sector dipped 1 percent.
** The top gainer on Hang Seng was Power Assets Holdings Ltd
0006.HK up 1.94 percent, while the biggest loser was CNOOC Ltd
0883.HK , down 3.02 percent.
** China's blue-chip CSI300 index .CSI300 fell 0.8 percent to
4,016.46 points, while the Shanghai Composite Index .SSEC lost
0.6 percent to 3,254.53.
** Around the region, MSCI's Asia ex-Japan stock index
.MIAPJ0000PUS was weaker by 0.86 percent while Japan's Nikkei
index .N225 closed down 2.5 percent.
** The yuan CNY=CFXS was quoted at 6.3491 per U.S. dollar at
08:15 GMT, 0.13 percent firmer than the previous close of
6.3575.
** As of the previous trading session, the Hang Seng index was
up 3.76 percent this year, while China's H-share index was up
6.1 percent. As of the previous close, the Hang Seng has risen
0.65 percent this month.
** The top gainers among H-shares were Huaneng Power
International Inc 0902.HK up 2.22 percent, followed by
Sinopharm Group 1099.HK gaining 1.76 percent and CGN Power Co
Ltd 1816.HK up by 0.96 percent.
** The three biggest H-shares percentage decliners were New
China Life Insurance Co Ltd 1336.HK which was down 3.74
percent, China Citic Bank Corp Ltd 0998.HK which fell 3.6
percent and China Minsheng Banking Corp Ltd 1988.HK down by
3.3 percent.
** At close, China's A-shares were trading at a
premium of 27.76 percent over the Hong Kong-listed H-shares.
(Reporting by the Shanghai Newsroom; Editing by Sunil Nair)
((samuel.shen@thomsonreuters.com; +86 21 6104 1789; Reuters
Messaging: samuel.shen.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))