China stocks extend losses while HK declines as consumer firms weigh

HONG KONG: China’s blue-chip stocks logged a third day of losses, while Hong Kong dropped on Wednesday, as disappointing interim results from beverage and restaurant companies highlighted the country’s deflation risks.

Shares of Nongfu Spring, China’s largest bottled water supplier, slumped more than 10% after the firm posted much slower profit growth for the first half amid a fierce domestic price war, dragging down Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index.

In A shares, leading liquor maker Shanxi Xinghuacun Fen Wine Factory fell 5.8% on a 60% quarterly decline in second-quarter earnings. That sent the CSI Liquor index down 3%.

At the close, the Shanghai Composite index was down 0.4% at 2,837.43.

The blue-chip CSI300 index was down 0.57%, with its financial sector sub-index lower by 0.51%, the consumer staples sector down 1.49%, the real estate index down 1.43%, and the healthcare sub-index down 0.37%.

The smaller Shenzhen index ended unchanged for the day, and the start-up board ChiNext Composite index was unchanged.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index was down 182.22 points or 1.02% at 17,692.45. The Hang Seng China Enterprises index fell 1.27% to 6,225.99.

The sub-index of the Hang Seng tracking energy shares dipped 0.6%, while the IT sector dipped 1.66%, the financial sector ended 0.51% lower and the property sector dipped 0.95%.

Hong Kong shares of Alibaba Group fell 1% on the first trading day after the firm upgraded its Hong Kong listing to primary status.

The Hang Seng Tech index fell 1.6%.

Around the region, MSCI’s Asia ex-Japan stock index was firmer by 0.07%, while Japan’s Nikkei index closed up 0.22%.