China, Hong Kong end October trade on a positive note, despite month of heavy losses, and worse-than-expected mainland PMI reading
- The Hang Seng Index caps a sixth straight month of declines, the longest streak of such runs in 36 years
- China’s purchasing managers’ index shows activity in the world’s second-largest economy’s factories slows amid ongoing US-China trade war
Hong Kong and China markets both ended higher on Wednesday, shrugging off China’s worse-than-expected reading for manufacturing activity for October.
The Hang Seng Index rose 1.6 per cent, or 394.16 points, to 24,979.69, while the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index added 1.4 per cent.
In the mainland, the Shanghai Composite Index gained 1.4 per cent, or 34.74 points, to 2,602.78. The CSI 300 of large caps was also up 1.4 per cent, while the ChiNext gauge of smaller caps rose 1.2 per cent.
The gains came in spite of October being a rocky month for Hong Kong and mainland markets, as slowing economic growth and the escalating trade war dampened investor sentiment.
For the month, the Hang Seng Index slumped by 10 per cent, capping a sixth straight month of declines. That was the longest streak of monthly losses since 1982. The Shanghai Composite dropped 7.8 per cent in October, the most for a single month since June.
China’s purchasing managers’ index (PMI) for October was worse than expected, as factory activity in the world’s second largest economy slowed amid the ongoing US-China trade war, according to official figures released on Wednesday morning.
The PMI, which measures sentiment in the manufacturing industry, fell to 50.2, lower than the median expectation of 50.6 in a Bloomberg survey of economists, and 50.8 in September.