New Development closed down 2.5 per cent to HK$10.14 and Link REIT lost 2.4 per cent to finish at HK$85.35. MTR, which owns the city’s subway system and a number of malls, ended down 0.1 per cent at HK$43.60. Over four days since Friday, subway stations were vandalised, leading to closures, as protesters acted out their outrage at the city’s decision to ban masks in public.

“Chinese consumer stocks have been doing well because ‘Golden Week’ consumption figures in the mainland are looking good,” Kenny Tang Sing-hing, chief executive of China Hong Kong Capital Asset, said before the market closed.

China food delivery platform Meituan Dianping, for example, shot up 5 per cent to HK$89.

“I don’t think the Hong Kong markets will fall by much more. The bad news has always been the same recently. The Hang Seng Index won’t see a huge increase, but it may go back up to 27,500 and come back down again in the near future,” said Tang.

Sentiment was boosted in both Hong Kong and China markets from investors’ expectations that the US will further lower rates this month to stem a possible recession, said Kenny Wen, wealth management strategist at Everbright Sun Hung Kai. The Federal Reserve next meets on October 29-30.

Investors are also betting that China will inject more liquidity into the system and help smaller private businesses through lower rates, Wen added.

In the mainland, the Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.29 per cent to 2,914, while the CSI 300 of large cap stocks traded in Shanghai and Shenzhen closed up 0.61 per cent at 3,837.68.

As attention turns to US-China trade talks, which begin in Washington on Thursday, the US added human rights into its complaints. It put eight Chinese tech giants on its trade blacklist, claiming they violated the rights of Muslim minorities in the country. That means that cannot buy components from US companies without special approval from the US government.

They included Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology and Zhenjiang Dahua Technology, makers of video surveillance equipment, whose shares were temporarily halted. They are expected to resume trading on Thursday.

IFlytek, which makes voice recognition software, was also put on the list. It closed down 2.7 per cent at 31.01 yuan.

“Hikvision strongly opposes today’s decision by the US government and it will hamper efforts by global companies to improve human rights around the world,” the company said in a statement, according to Bloomberg. “Punishing Hikvision, despite these engagements, will deter global companies from communicating with the U.S. government, hurt Hikvision’s US businesses partners and negatively impact the US economy.”

Chinese liquor companies performed well. Anhui Golden Seed Winery closed ahead 1.4 per cent to 6.42 yuan, while Kweichow Moutai finished up 1.5 per cent at 1,167.10 yuan.

Chinese transport stocks benefitted from figures showing an increase in travel over the Golden Week holiday.

Around 520 million travellers used China’s transport systems, according to the Ministry of Transport of the People’s Republic of China. About 87 million people travelled by railway – a 5.2 per cent increase from the same period last year – while 10.9 million travelled by China’s civil aviation services, a 4.5 per cent increase. Meanwhile, 13 million travelled by waterway, a 6.8 per cent increase, and 409 million travelled by road, a 2.3 per cent increase.

High-speed rail service operator China Railway Group rose 0.21 per cent to HK$4.74, while Guangshen Railway rose 2 per cent to HK$2.46.

Beijing Capital International Airport increased 3.4 per cent to HK$7.01.