Mainland China stocks close lower ahead of long holiday, Hong Kong books best month since Jan 2023

Sino Biopharmaceutical

30/04/2024 09:44

(Updates to the close)
       SHANGHAI, April 30 (Reuters) - Mainland China stocks
finished lower on Tuesday as investors were largely on the
sidelines ahead of the long Labor Day holiday and the U.S.
Federal Reserve's monetary policy meeting this week, while Hong
Kong shares inched higher.
        
** The Hong Kong stock market will be closed on May 1 for Labor
Day holiday, while mainland financial markets will be closed for
extended holidays from Wednesday, with trading set to resume
next Monday.
    
** Investors will quickly shift their attention to the upcoming
Fed policy meeting and China's month-end Politburo meeting.
    
** Markets were unruffled by China's April official factory
survey, which showed manufacturing activity expanded at a slower
pace.
    
** Separately, China will step up its support for the economy,
flexibly using policy tools, including banks' reserve
requirement ratios (RRR) and interest rates, the Politburo, a
top decision-making body of the ruling Communist Party, was
quoted by state media as saying on Tuesday, after the mainland
market close.

** At the close of trade, China's main Shanghai Composite index
 .SSEC  closed down 0.26% at 3,104.82 points, while the
blue-chip CSI300 index  .CSI300  ended down 0.54%.
    
** The Hang Seng index  .HSI  was up 16.12 points or 0.09% at
17,763.03. The Hang Seng China Enterprises index  .HSCE  fell
0.14% to 6,273.75.
    
    ** The benchmark Hang Seng Index rose more than 7% in April,
booking the biggest monthly gain since January 2023, while both
the Shanghai Composite Index and blue-chip CSI 300 index
recorded their third monthly rises.
** The sub-index of the Hang Seng tracking energy shares
 .HSCIE  rose 1.9%, while the IT sector  .HSCIIT  dipped 0.54%,
the financial sector  .HSNF  ended 0.36% higher and the property
sector dipped 0.03%.
    
** Around the region, MSCI's Asia ex-Japan stock index
 .MIAPJ0000PUS  was weaker by 0.05%, while Japan's Nikkei index
 .N225  closed up 1.24%.
 
** The yuan  CNY=CFXS  was quoted at 7.2391 per U.S. dollar at
0814 GMT, 0.2% weaker than the previous close of 7.225. 

 (Reporting by Shanghai Newsroom; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala
and Sohini Goswami)