HONG KONG: Hong Kong stocks on Thursday fell on Thursday as investors took profits, ending a six-session rally fuelled by a flurry of Chinese stimulus measures.
The Hang Seng index closed down 330.22 points or 1.47% at 22,113.51, after rising 6% on Wednesday in its bet session since November 2022. The index had surged more than 30% from its lowest level in September by Wednesday’s close.
Investors booked gains across high-flying sectors such as property, financials and technology. The Hang Seng China Enterprises index fell 1.58%, while the Hang Seng Tech Index dropped 3.46%. Hong Kong-listed mainland property developers tumbled 5.9%, and financial sector stocks slipped 0.8%.
“Given the current market momentum and our tracking of sentiment on China’s social media, the risk of repeating the epic boom and bust in 2015 could rise rapidly in coming weeks,” Nomura’s chief China economist Ting Lu said in a note. He said the market frenzy could complicate Beijing’s future policy stimulus.
“The eventual scale and content of the fiscal package might be quite improvised and uncertain due to the brewing stock bubble and still-controversial debates on what Beijing should focus on,” he said.
Meituan, China Merchants Bank and CNOOC were the top gainers among H-shares, up 3.96%, 3.78% and 2.45% respectively.
The three biggest H-shares percentage decliners were Longfor Group Holdings, which was down 9.49%, Xpeng, which fell 8.36% and JD.Com, down by 7.94%. Around the region, MSCI’s Asia ex-Japan stock index was weaker by 1.19%, while Japan’s Nikkei index closed up 1.97%.
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