New | Hong Kong, China stocks dragged down by cooling commodity prices and weak yuan
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Mainland Chinese and Hong Kong stocks tumbled on Friday, with Shanghai-listed shares falling the most in two months as a cooling commodities market and a weak yuan sparked investors’ concerns.
The mainland’s benchmark Shanghai Composite Index closed 2.82 per cent or 84.59 points lower at 2,913.25. The fall was the biggest daily loss since February 29, when stocks dived 2.86 per cent. The CSI 300, which tracks large companies listed in Shanghai and Shenzhen, dropped 2.6 per cent or 83.57 points to 3,130.35.
The Shenzhen Composite Index lost 3.65 per cent to 1,871.61, and the Nasdaq-style ChiNext Index slipped 4.27 per cent to 2,129.19.
In Hong Kong, stocks stayed in negative territory for a fifth consecutive day. The Hang Seng Index closed 1.66 per cent lower, shedding 339.95 points to 20,109.87. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index slid 1.8 per cent or 155.03 points to 8,471.70.
The unexpected fall in the A-share market [today] led the sentiment in Hong Kong to be more bearish than before
Alex Wong Kwok-ying, asset management director of Ample Capital, said the recent correction in commodity prices led to a slump in the mainland markets.
“[The commodities market] was overheated and should not have gone up that much earlier. It was not supported by fundamentals, but by hot money that chased up the rise,” Wong said. “Once speculation cooled off a little bit, now you see the pullback in commodities.”