SHANGHAI: China’s blue-chips closed lower on Monday after a lockdown in Shanghai to curb the spread of COVID-19 infections raised fears of an economic slowdown, while Hong Kong gained for the first time in three sessions supported by tech companies.
The blue-chip CSI300 index fell 0.6% to 4,148.47, while the Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.1% at 3,214.50 points.
The Hang Seng index rose 1.3% to 21,684.97, while the China Enterprises Index gained 1.5% to 7,396.25 points.
China’s financial hub of Shanghai launched a planned two-stage lockdown of the city of 26 million people on Monday. A record 3,450 asymptomatic COVID cases were reported in Shanghai on Sunday, accounting for nearly 70% of the nationwide total, along with 50 symptomatic cases.
“Due to the high transmissibility of Omicron and a strengthened ZCS (zero-COVID strategy), markets need to especially be concerned about a slide in growth in Q2,” said Nomura analysts in a note.
Profit growth at China’s industrial firms accelerated in January-February in line with other signs of momentum in the economy. Goldman Sachs analysts said policies to further ease monetary and fiscal measures can be expected given the coronavirus flare-ups.
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