Mainland China and Hong Kong stocks fall on Middle East tensions

SHANGHAI: Mainland China and Hong Kong stocks fell on Friday, tracking their regional peers, pressured by reports of an Israeli attack on Iran that sparked rising safe-haven bets.

China stocks track Asian markets higher

• The latest developments prompted concerns over a widening of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza to include other countries in the Middle East, prompting a flight to safety as investors swept up typical safe-haven assets.

• Initial US news reports late on Thursday said Israel launched missiles at Iran in retaliation for an April 13 attack on Israel that was in response to an alleged Israeli assault that killed Iranian military leaders on April 1. Iranian officials on Friday told Reuters there was no missile attack.

• “It’s a big dampener on risk assets, including equities and most currencies,” said Christopher Wong, currency strategist at OCBC Bank.

• At the midday break, the Shanghai Composite index was down 0.4% at 3,062.00 points.

• China’s blue-chip CSI300 index was down 0.88%, with its financial sector sub-index lower by 0.36%, the consumer staples sector down 1.32%, the real estate index down 1.4% and the healthcare sub-index down 1.23%.

• Chinese H-shares listed in Hong Kong fell 1.19% to 5,734.72, while the Hang Seng Index was down 1.23% at 16,184.02.

• The smaller Shenzhen index was down 1.08%, the start-up board ChiNext Composite index was weaker by 2.2% and Shanghai’s tech-focused STAR50 index was down 1.76%.

• Around the region, MSCI’s Asia ex-Japan stock index was weaker by 1.96% while Japan’s Nikkei index was down 2.61%. ** The yuan was quoted at 7.2393 per US dollar, 0.02% weaker than the previous close of 7.2382.

• The largest percentage gainers in the main Shanghai Composite index were China Aluminum International Engineering Corp Ltd , up 10.05%, followed by Well Lead Medical Co Ltd , gaining 10.04%, and Zhejiang Tiantai Xianghe Industrial Co Ltd, up by 10.03%.

• The largest percentage losses in the Shanghai index were Jiangsu Boxin Investing & Holdings Co Ltd, down about 10%, followed by Suzhou Institute of Building Science Group Co Ltd, losing 9.502%, and Triumph Science & Technology Co Ltd, down by 9.33%.