HONG KONG: China and Hong Kong stocks were flat on Thursday as defensive sectors including banks and energy climbed, while developer Vanke’s debt woes triggered a property shares selloff that dragged on the market.
At market close, the Shanghai Composite index added 0.3 percent at 3875.26 points. The blue-chip CSI300 index was down 0.1 percent.
The CSI Energy Index climbed 1 percent, the CSI Banks Index gained 0.5 percent and the insurance sector added 0.3 percent, lifting the markets higher.
Dragging down the markets, shares of China Vanke tumbled as much as 8.8 percent to the lowest level since 2008, after the company said it was seeking to delay an onshore bond repayment for the first time.
China’s CSI 300 real estate index slid as much as 4.5 percent to the lowest since September 2024 on Vanke’s woes, before closing down 2.4 percent.
Meanwhile, the AI sector index gave up earlier gains boosted by a report that Chinese regulators have barred TikTok owner ByteDance from deploying Nvidia chips in new data centers.
“Volatility will remain the dominating theme in the short term” as the year end approaches while investors await more supportive measures before adding more positions, analysts at Yingda Securities said in a note.
In Hong Kong, the benchmark Hang Seng Index climbed 0.1 percent, while the Hang Seng Mainland Property Index was down 0.7 percent after losing as much as 2 percent.
Toy maker Pop Mart jumped 6.8 percent to a two-week high after Beijing announced a new plan to boost consumption including promoting upgrades of consumer goods in sectors such as pets and toys.
On the data front, China’s industrial profits fell in October after two months of growth, as businesses continued to grapple with lacklustre domestic demand and an export downturn.
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