HONG KONG: Hong Kong stocks declined on Wednesday, with tech shares leading the drop in light trading before Chinese markets reopen from the National Day holiday.
Hong Kong’s benchmark Hang Seng closed down 0.5 percent, a third straight session of decline since hitting a fresh four-year high on October 2. The market was closed on Tuesday.
Investors sought out less risky assets, with Asian stocks down 0.6 percent following a sluggish session overnight in the US Spot gold climbed to a record USD4,000 per ounce level as investors sought safety. Tech sectors weighed on the Hong Kong market on Wednesday, with the Hang Seng Tech Index slipping 0.6 percent and the AI sector index down 0.8 percent.
Heavyweights Alibaba lost 1.6 percent and Baidu lost 3 percent. The decline followed a report that US lawmakers were calling for broader bans on chipmaking tool sales to China, rather than narrower restrictions on specific Chinese chipmakers.
Also weighing on Hong Kong markets, mainland developers slipped 1.3 percent, with developer Longfor down 4.5 percent.
The mood was “mixed and cautious” with mainland China still on holiday, Wee Khoon Chong, APAC market strategist at BNY, wrote in a note.
Investors are also watching a key policy meeting of China’s ruling Communist Party later this month, which will map out the country’s social and economic development over the next five years, according to UBS.
Mainland China’s financial markets will resume trading on Thursday following the eight-day National Day holidays.
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