China, Hong Kong benchmarks rebound, defying big sell-offs in region over Apple train wreck
- China, Hong Kong stocks finally perked up in new year, after the nightmare of 2018
- But Apple-related shares continued getting hammered, with Japan markets reopening with ugly losses
China and Hong Kong stocks defied big sell-offs in Asia in Friday trading, with the Shanghai Composite capping its biggest gain in a month, as suspected state buying and bargain-hunting of beaten-down companies propped up equities reeling from the world’s worst performance last year.
Apple suppliers in Asia, however, took another pounding, after an overnight rout in US equities spilled over to the region.
The Shanghai Composite Index jumped 2.1 per cent, or 50.51 points, to 2,514.87, at the close. The benchmark ended up the week with a 0.8 per advance, its first run of gains for the five-day period in a month. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index added 2.2 per cent, or 561.67 points, to 25,626.03, notching up a weekly gain of 0.5 per cent.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 index sank 2.3 per cent on its first trading day of the year and Taiwan’s Taiex, which hosts a deluge of exporters, slid 1.2 per cent. The latest volatility in US markets was largely sparked by Apple lowering its sales projection for the first time in almost two decades on waning demand in China.
In the US, investors shifted out of stocks into bonds overnight on angst about slowing growth, sending the S&P 500 Index down by 2.5 per cent and pushing yields on 10-year Treasuries to an 11-month high.