Hong Kong stocks end lower while Shanghai gains, as traders gauge Beijing leadership shake-up
Mainland Chinese stocks closed with modest gains on Tuesday, while Hong Kong shares ended lower, as traders exercised caution amid a reshuffle of the Communist Party’s top leadership.
Mainland China’s benchmark Shanghai Composite Index edged up 0.2 per cent to close at 3,388.25.
The large-cap CSI300 indexrose 0.7 per cent, or 28.6 points, to 3,959.4.
The start-up board index ChiNext also rose 0.2 per cent to 1,901.69, while the Shenzhen Composite Index fell 0.1 per cent to 2,009.65.
Combined daily turnover for Shanghai and Shenzhen markets reached 407 billion yuan, up 6 per cent from Monday.
Meantime, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 0.5 per cent, or 150.91 points to end at 28,154.97, down for a second straight day. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index, known as the H-share index, was off 0.7 per cent to 11,405.55.
Daily turnover for Hong Kong’s main board stood at HK$90 billion, down about 2 per cent from the previous session.
The 2,300 party delegates have cast their ballots for 205 members of the powerful Central Committee this morning. The committee will vote for the standing members of the party’s highest decision-making Politburo on Wednesday. Five standing members on the current Politburo are due to retire, the South China Morning Post reported earlier.
Property stocks were among top gainers in mainland stock markets.
China Vanke, the nation’s biggest property developer, jumped 4.1 per cent to 27 yuan. Poly Real Estate Group climbed 3 per cent to 10.8 yuan.
They are waiting for the dust to settle and braced for any possible policy change
In Hong Kong, AIA Group dragged the most on the Hang Seng Index, ending down 0.8 per cent to HK$58.75.
AAC Technologies, which supplies acoustic components to Apple, tumbled 2.7 per cent to HK$136.8, the biggest underperformer among blue-chip stocks, after BNP Paribas downgraded its rating on the stock to “hold”.
Meanwhile, Chinese real estate developers resumed their upward trajectory, with Hang Seng constituent China Resources Land up 1.5 per cent to HK$24.2.
Among other market movers, Sunac China and China Evergrande Group both hit record closes. Sunac China surged 4 per cent to HK$41.9, and China Evergrande rose 1.8 per cent to HK$31.55.
