Hong Kong stocks fall after Lunar New Year break, H-shares down

Sino Land

20/02/2018 08:09

* Hang Seng index ends down 0.8 pct 
    * China Enterprises index HSCE falls 1.1 pct 
    * HSI financial sub-index drops 1.6 pct; property off 0.2 
pct 
    * HSBC tumbles after prextax profit disappoints  
 
    HONG KONG, Feb 20 (Reuters) - Hong Kong's benchmark Hang 
Seng index fell on Tuesday, when the city's markets reopened 
following the Lunar New Year holiday, with HSBC  0005.HK  
leading the slide after reporting a pretax profit below 
forecasts. China's H-shares index also dropped.  
** At close of trade, the Hang Seng index  .HSI  was down 241.80 
points or 0.78 percent at 30,873.63. The Hang Seng China 
Enterprises index  .HSCE  fell 1.11 percent to 12,396.87. 
       
** The sub-index of the Hang Seng tracking energy shares 
 .HSCIE  dipped 0.7 percent while the IT sector  .HSCIIT  rose 
0.16 percent, the financial sector  .HSNF  was 1.63 percent 
lower and the property sector dipped 0.21 percent. 
  
** The top gainer on Hang Seng was Sunny Optical Technology 
Group Co Ltd  2382.HK  up 2.58 percent, while the biggest loser 
was HSBC Holdings, which was down 3.11 percent. 
  
** The Hong Kong shares of HSBC tumbled after Europe's biggest 
lender by market capitalisation  HSBA.L  reported an increase in 
annual pre-tax profit that missed expectations, and it unveiled 
a plan to raise up to $7 billion over the next four months to 
bolster its capital base.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N1QA127 
         
** Around the region, MSCI's Asia ex-Japan stock index 
 .MIAPJ0000PUS  was weaker by 0.43 percent and Japan's Nikkei 
index  .N225  closed down 1.01 percent . 
   
** The top gainers among H-shares were Guangzhou Automobile 
Group Co Ltd  2238.HK  up 3.79 percent, followed by Zhuzhou CRRC 
Times Electric Co Ltd  3898.HK  by 1.78 percent and Anhui Conch 
Cement  0914.HK  up by 1.67 percent. 
  
** The three biggest H-shares percentage decliners were China 
Merchants Bank Co Ltd  3968.HK , down 2.91 percent, CITIC 
Securities Co Ltd  6030.HK  down by 2.07 percent, and Bank of 
China  3988.HK  which fell 2.05 percent.   
  
** About 2.10 billion Hang Seng index shares were traded, 
roughly 67.6 percent of the market's 30-day moving average of 
3.10 billion shares a day.  
  
** The short and one-factor leveraged Hang Seng index  .HSISI , 
which is designed to replicate the payoff of a short or 
leveraged portfolio and is linked to the movements of the Hang 
Seng Index, was higher by 0.78 percent on the day at 4,749.86 
points. 
 
 (Reporting by Donny Kwok; Editing by Richard Borsuk) 
 ((donny.kwok@thomsonreuters.com; +852 2843 6470; Reuters 
Messaging: donny.kwok.reuters.com@reuters.net)) 
 
Keywords: HONGKONG MARKETS/STOCKS CLOSER