Hong Kong shares end lower on trade war blues; banks drag

Wharf Real Estate Investment

25/06/2019 09:53

* Hang Seng down 1.2%, H-shares fall 1.9%
    * Trump "comfortable with any outcome" at G20 - U.S.
official
    * Banks pressured; media report- SPDB may face U.S.
punishment

    HONG KONG, June 25 (Reuters) - Hong Kong shares closed
weaker on Tuesday, tracking markets across Asia and Mainland
China, as investors were haunted by trade anxiety and feared
lack of progress during the Sino-U.S. negotiations at the G20
summit.
    
** At the close of trade, the Hang Seng index  .HSI  was down
1.2% at 28,185.98 points. The Hang Seng China Enterprises index
 .HSCE  dropped 1.9%.
** The sub-index of the Hang Seng tracking energy shares
 .HSCIE  ended down 1%, while the IT sector  .HSCIIT  closed
1.7% lower, the financial sector  .HSNF  ended 1.5% weaker and
the property sector  .HSNP  closed down 0.3%.
** A senior U.S. official late on Monday fanned worries that the
United States and China will make little progress in talks to
end their trade war this week, saying that U.S. President Donald
Trump is "comfortable with any outcome" from his expected
meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the upcoming Group
of 20 summit in Japan.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL2N23V1M2
** Trump is scheduled to meet one-on-one with at least eight
world leaders at the G20 summit in Osaka this week, including Xi
and Russian President Vladimir Putin.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nW1N22K02E
** Most Asian markets traded lower. Shanghai stocks  .SSEC 
closed down 0.9%, snapping a six-day streak of gains. MSCI's
Asia ex-Japan stock index  .MIAPJ0000PUS  was weaker by 0.4,
while Japan's Nikkei index  .N225  also closed 0.4% weaker.
 .SS 
** Chinese banks came under pressure after a media report
claimed Shanghai Pudong Development Bank (SPDB) Co Ltd
 600000.SS  may lose access to the U.S. financial system after a
U.S. judge found the bank in contempt for refusing to comply
with subpoenas in a North Korea sanctions violation
investigation.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N23W1CR
** Hong Kong-listed shares of China Merchants Bank  3968.HK 
closed down 7.7%, recouping some losses after the lender said it
is not involved in any investigations related to possible
violations of sanctions.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nB9N23L010 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N23W1H4
** The top gainer on the Hang Seng was Wharf Real Estate
Investment Company Ltd  1997.HK , which gained 1.4%, while the
biggest loser was Bank of Communications Co Ltd  3328.HK , which
ended down 3.7%.
** About 1.91 billion Hang Seng index shares were traded. The
volume traded in the previous trading session was 1.38 billion.
** At close, China's A-shares were trading at a premium of
29.08% over Hong Kong-listed H-shares.  .HSCAHPI 
    

 (Reporting by Noah Sin, Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
 ((noah.sin@thomsonreuters.com; Reuters Messaging:
noah.sin.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))