China stocks hit 7-month low on economic worries; HK shares fall amid Asia weakness

SHANGHAI: China stocks fell to a seven-month low on Monday, as August inflation data deepened economic worries, while Hong Kong shares declined as much as 2% amid weak regional sentiment.

China stocks track Asian markets higher

• China’s blue-chip CSI300 index dropped 1.06% by the midday break, hitting the lowest level since early February. The Shanghai Composite Index was down 0.9%. Energy shares led the declines.

• Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index lost 1.92%.

• Around the region, MSCI’s Asia ex-Japan stock index fell by 1.32%, while Japan’s Nikkei index was down 1.82%.

• China’s consumer prices accelerated in August to the fastest pace in half a year, due to the higher costs of food from weather disruption, but was short of market expectations. Producer price deflation worsened.

• The price data released on Monday stoked expectations of further easing from authorities to stimulate growth, pushing down Chinese bond yields and weakening the yuan.

• “The lack of conviction around China’s economic recovery continues to leave investors shunning,” Yeap Jun Rong, market strategist at IG, said in a note to clients.

• “It’s been a good trade to be long Chinese government bonds and underweight equity markets so far this year, and these numbers don’t suggest anything has changed,” Ben Bennett, head of investment strategy and research at LGIM, said, referring to the inflation data.

• Property and tech led the decline in Hong Kong, where sentiment was also dampened by a plunge in the shares of China Renaissance Holdings, which resumed trading after a 17-month suspension.

• China’s CSI financial sector sub-index fell 1.19%, the consumer staples sector was down 1.1%, the real estate index declined 1.3% and the healthcare sub-index was up 0.24%.

• The smaller Shenzhen index was down 0.5%, the start-up board ChiNext Composite index was weaker by 0.23% and Shanghai’s tech-focused STAR50 index was down 0.85%.