SINGAPORE: Chinese stocks recorded the heaviest losses in three weeks on Friday after a readout from a major economic policy meeting repeated pledges to issue debt, lower interest rates and support growth but offered nothing new to excite investors.
The Shanghai Composite index slipped 2% to 3,391.88 points while the blue-chip CSI300 index slid 2.37%. These were the biggest retreats since late November and wiped out all the earlier gains in the week. The Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong dropped 2.1% to 19,971.24, the biggest decline in a month.
A state media readout of the annual agenda-setting Central Economic Work Conference repeated promises to increase the budget deficit and maintain economic growth. Earlier in the week, the Politburo said it would switch to an “appropriately loose” monetary policy stance.
“Both the Politburo and CEWC look more like a policy recap of the stimulus measures in the past months rather than a new supporting deal to the economy,” ANZ analysts said.
Financials were down 2.7%, consumer staples dropped 2.8%, and real estate slid 3.3%.
Developer Longfor was the top loser in Hong Kong, falling 7.3%. Other property shares fell along with consumer-sensitive stocks such as Budweiser Brewing APAC .
“Investors took profit as the anticipated meeting ended, so the correction is natural,” said Huang Yan, fund manager at Sanghai QiuYang Capital Co. He expects the Shanghai benchmark to get support around 3,400 points as the market awaits a likely US rate cut next week.
China’s 10-year bond yield dropped nearly 20 basis points so far this week, on track for the largest weekly decline since April 2018.
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