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Hong Kong shares reverse course, end up 0.2pc

Hong Kong shares eked out slim gains on Tuesday, with strength in local property developers outweighing weakness in Chinese cyclicals, roiled by choppy mainland markets.

The Hang Seng Index ended up 0.2 per cent at 19,855.7 after being down 1.4 per cent at midday Tuesday. The China Enterprises Index of the top Chinese listings in Hong Kong shed 0.8 per cent.

The CSI300 of the leading Shanghai and Shenzhen listings closed down 0.3 per cent, while the Shanghai Composite Index slipped 0.2 per cent. Early on Tuesday, they were down by as much as 6 and 5 per cent, respectively.

Mainland Chinese markets pared hefty losses after earlier testing 4½-year lows ahead of a press conference in Shanghai at which traders had hoped the Chinese central bank and authorities would address recent market turmoil. The Chinese banking sector was still mostly soft, although Minsheng Bank, among the hardest hit in Monday’s selloff, rebounded 2.9 per cent.

But comments from the vice head of the central bank’s Shanghai branch blaming the spike in interbank market rates on seasonal factors suggested no change in the People’s Bank of China’s position reiterated in official statements in the past two days.

Shares of FIH Mobile, which said it expected to return to profit for the first half of 2013, surged 8 per cent.

 

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