HONG KONG: China and Hong Kong stocks tumbled on Thursday as mounting tensions in the Middle East rattled investor confidence, fuelling a broad selloff across sectors.
-
Sentiment across the region remained weak as tensions showed no signs of easing, with Iran and Israel exchanging further air strikes on Thursday, while the US weighed the possibility of joining the attacks.
-
This week’s much-hyped Lujiazui Forum in Shanghai offered little fresh measures to bolster the market, also leaving investors in search of policy direction.
-
At the midday break, China’s blue-chip CSI300 index weakened 0.8%, and the Shanghai Composite index declined 0.9% to 3,359.
-
Weakness was spread across the board, with the CSI financial sector sub-index lower by 0.7%, the real estate index down 1.8% and the defence sub-index down 2.5%.
-
Declines were sharper in Hong Kong. The Hang Seng Index slid 2% - its biggest single-day retreat since April 7.
-
Tech and healthcare sectors were among biggest losers, down 2.4% and 3.8% respectively.
-
Limiting losses, seasoning maker Foshan Haitian Flavouring surged as much as 4.7% in its first day of trading in Hong Kong.
-
Though sentiment has improved after a Sino-US trade truce was reached last month in Geneva, China’s long-term prospects remain uncomfortably dispirited, according to the Bank of America’s latest fund manager survey.
-
The survey noted that most fund managers in Asia still expect a structural de-rating to get underway in the world’s second-largest economy.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.