SHANGHAI: Chinese and Hong Kong shares closed lower on Monday, as cautious foreign investors offloaded domestic stocks ahead of a week-long holiday, while a weak regional market also weighed on sentiment.
The blue-chip CSI 300 Index lost 0.7%, and the Shanghai Composite Index declined 0.5%.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index lost 1.8%, while the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index slumped 2.1%. Other Asian shares were also down, after central banks last week reinforced the message that interest rates would stay higher for longer, while investors braced for inflation data from the US and Europe.
Market participants are set to look into consumption data during China’s week-long National Day holiday that begins on Friday.
They will also check industrial profit figures as well as manufacturing and services PMIs later in the week.
“The market tends to perform weakly ahead of the big holiday, on concerns of uncertainties during the period, but money would flow back after the holiday,” said Caitong Securities in a note.
Foreign investors sold a net 8 billion yuan ($1.09 billion) of Chinese stocks via the Stock Connect on Monday.
Goldman Sachs said their client conversations with offshore investors suggest uniformly bearish sentiment on the Chinese economy, while onshore clients held mixed views.
In mainland markets, real estate developers and securities brokers both lost more than 2% to lead declines, while tourism slipped 1.3%.
In Hong Kong, tech giants dropped 2.7%, and mainland developers plunged 4.2%.
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