China, HK stocks fall as weak lending data fans liquidity concerns

ZhongAn Online P & C Insurance

12/08/2021 05:44

Aug 12 (Reuters) - China and Hong Kong shares fell on
Thursday as weaker-than-expected lending data triggered
liquidity concerns and weighed on sentiment.

    ** The CSI300 index  .CSI300  fell 0.6% to 4,984.51 points
at the end of the morning session, while the Shanghai Composite
Index  .SSEC  lost 0.1% to 3,528.27 points. 

    ** In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index  .HSI  dropped 0.1% to
26,636.92 points, while the Hong Kong China Enterprises Index
 .HSCE  lost 0.3% to 9,516.72.
    
    ** China's new bank loans fell to 1.08 trillion yuan ($166.5
billion) in July, its lowest in nine months.
    
    ** Growth of outstanding total social financing (TSF), a
broad measure of credit and liquidity in the economy, slowed to
10.7% in July - the weakest reading since February 2020 - from a
year earlier and from 11% in June.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2PI0SM
    
    ** "We expect the slowdown and resulting headwind to the
economy to continue in the coming months, further RRR and policy
rate cuts notwithstanding," Capital Economics said in a note.
    
    ** Consumer staples sub-index  .CSICS  went down 1.2%, while
the healthcare sub-index  .CSIHCSI  slipped 1.4%.
    
    ** The steel sub-index  .CSI930606  gained 3.22%.
    
    ** The semiconductors sub-index  .CSIH30184  rose 0.73%. The
index has gained around 35% so far this year. The tech-heavy
STAR market rose 0.4% on the day. 
    
    ** "We expect STAR/ChiNext to continue to outperform in the
near term as they are skewed to new energy, semi and computers
with improving fundamentals," wrote Meng Lei, A-share Strategist
at UBS Securities. "However, we do not think liquidity will ease
further in the near term unless there is material downside risk
to the economy."   
    
    ** In Hong Kong, healthcare shares also fell, with the
sub-index  .HSCIH   going down 3.2%.
    
    ** Insurers listed in Hong Kong fell, a day after China
Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission said it would
strengthen oversight on products, sales, claims and information
security of online insurers.
    
    ** Chinese online insurer ZhongAn  6060.HK  led the decline,
with its shares tumbling 9.4%. The financials sub-index  .HSCIF 
dropped 0.8%.
    
    ** Heavily-indebted developer China Evergrande Group
 3333.HK  plunged over 7% after a strong rebound earlier this
week that came on the back of asset sale plans. 
    

 (Reporting by Shanghai Newsroom; Editing by Ramakrishnan M.)
 ((Jason.Xue@thomsonreuters.com))