Name: SCMP
Telephone: +852-2680-8888

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

sponsorType

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

seriesContainer

printHeadline

socialHeadline

headline

glossary

flattenTypeIds

paywallTypes

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

factSheets

series

summary

updatedDate

flag

knowledgeQuestion

disableOffPlatformContent

published

subHeadline

body

keywords

copyrighted

customTimezone

liveContents

Deb Price

Snow Xia

Happy Friday, traders!
Trade drove sentiment today, with Hong Kong and China stocks rising on optimism the US and China will strike a deal.
Catch up on the day's action below.
Please help us improve our blog by taking this quick -- under 2 minutes! -- survey. Your feedback will really help us make the blog better for you!
Also, if you would like the Live Stocks Blog emailed to you each morning, click here. 
-- Deb Price and Snow Xia in Hong Kong
Note: Information in this blog is on an "as is" basis and not a solicitation or offer to buy or sell any securities or otherwise; and is not investment/professional advice or services in this regard.  It is subject to our T&C.  SCMP (as defined in T&C) shall not be liable for any loss, damage and costs relating to any investments in securities or otherwise in this connection.


Hang Seng Index gains as investors bet US-China trade deal will come through

The automatic dock of the Qingdao port in Qingdao, east China’s Shandong Province. Photo: Xinhua

Business

Markets

Apple supplier AAC Technologies (2018 HK) shoots up 9 per cent
 Kweichow Moutai jumps 3.6 per cent in biggest gain in more than two months


Apple supplier AAC Technologies (2018 HK) shoots up 9 per cent, while Alibaba (9988 HK) climbs 2.8 per cent. In China, Kweichow Moutai jumps 3.6 per cent. 


Stocks

Hang Seng Index

China stock market

Tencent

Alibaba

Hong Kong MTR

Hong Kong protests

US-China trade war

Kweichow Moutai

Apple

Live

Chart: Hang Seng is up a mere 1.4 per cent this year. Here’s how it has performed

Friday US markets/ What futures foretell
--The S&P 500 rose  0.2 per cent, the Nasdaq rose 0.1 per cent and the Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 0.1 per cent. 
-- Hong Kong futures gained 0.07 per cent, and the FTSE China A50 futures rose 0.2 per cent
IPO debuts: None to note
Economic statistics/Central Bank action:  Nothing major scheduled 
Earnings: No major earnings    


Morning guidance 

Initial public offerings no longer promise spectacular profits for mainland Chinese investors, with days of 44 per cent gains in some instances in first trading sessions fast becoming a thing of the past.
Returns from a slew of companies debuting on mainland exchanges have been disappointing. Shares in Jiangsu Bioperfectus Technologies, a biotechnology company, for instance, rose only 17 per cent on their debut on the Science and Technology Innovation Board, or Star
Market, on Thursday, missing expectations. Its IPO was floated for a multiple of 49 times against an industry average of 34 times.
Luoyang Jianlong Micro-Nano New Materials, listed on the Star Market, closed 2.2 per cent lower on its first trading day on Wednesday, making its trading debut the worst in seven years. About 16 per cent of companies trading on China’s new technology board are currently trading below their IPO prices.
Read full story by stocks reporter Shidong Zhang here.   


China IPOs are no longer risk-free bets

Chinese consumers are buying fewer expensive items amid an economic slowdown and trade war with the United States.
The average price of fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) in the first nine months of this year on the mainland increased 3.7 per cent, much slower than the 4.6 per cent in the same period last year, according to China Shopper Reporter 2019 released jointly by US consulting firm Bain & Company and Spanish consumer insights provider Kantar WorldPanel.
“Sellers are under a lot of pressure to stimulate demand and to lure buyers, and so we see a lot of discounts and promotions. As a result the average price increase is much slower than previous years, and more significantly it is taking care of the inflation rate,” said Jason Yu, general manager of Kantar Worldpanel Greater China.
Still “China continues to be the biggest consumer story in the world,” said Derek Deng, partner with Bain & Company.
Read full story by Pearl Liu here.    


Chinese consumers buyer fewer expensive items

Chinese property developer Sunshine 100 China Holdings (2608 HK) reported sales of almost 1.7 billion yuan for the month of November.
The sales covered roughly 132,000 square metres, according to a filing to the stock exchange on Thursday evening.
Shanghai-headquartered Shui On Land Limited (0272 HK) sold almost 1.3 billion yuan worth of residential property in November, across 58,400 square metres and 10 units of carpark, it said in a filing to the stock exchange. The average selling price was 21,900 yuan per square metre.
Mainland Chinese property developer Greentown China Holdings (3900 HK) said it sold 4,195 units amounting to 610,000 square metres in November, for roughly 14.2 billion yuan. The average selling price was 23,322 per square metre, it said in a filing to the stock exchange.
-- Louise Moon    


November property developer sales

Investment holdings company Tai Cheung Holdings Limited (0088 HK), which primarily operates in the property business, reported a 93 per cent drop in revenue to HK$23.9 million in the six months ending September 30, and a 44 per cent drop in net profit to HK$70.4 million, due to a decline in property sales.
In a filing to the stock exchange, the property developer – which has a 35 per cent interest in Hong Kong’s Sheraton hotel, said a global economic slowdown and “ongoing large-scale violent protests” have hit occupancy and room rates, and made home buyers and investors more cautious.
TPL said it is confident in facing the challenges ahead, noting that “housing initiatives recently announced by the government could help improve overall sentiment in the property market in the near term”. For the hotel industry, it said the government “could do more to attract visitors and stimulate the local market” and that “social stability needs to be restored”.
-- Louise Moon    


Slowing economy, protests take a toll on TPL

In a filing to the stock exchange on Thursday evening, Hong Kong rail operator MTR (66 HK) said the ongoing protests in Hong Kong are expected to cost the company HK$1.6 billion for the year ending December 31, due to damage to stations and facilities, enhancement of staff and security costs, and a decrease in passengers. Unrest, it said, has led to a 14 per cent decline in passengers from July to November, when compared to the same period last year.
MTR expects a decline in profit for the financial year ending December 31, but did not specify predictions.   
Read full story here.
-- Louise Moon 


MTR expects HK$1.6 billion hit from protests

Maoye International Holdings (0848 HK), Shenzhen’s top department store, reported chief financial officer Liu Bo has stepped down with effect from Thursday, with no disagreement with the board.
Bo was also an executive director and the vice president of the company.   
-- Louise Moon


Maoye International’s CFO resigns 

The Hang Seng Index rose 0.5 per cent to 26,347.29, with 45 of the constituent member stocks posting gains.
Property stocks gained, with the Hang Seng Property Sub-Index showing a 0.8 per cent rise.
Henderson Land (12) rose 0.7 per cent to HK$37.75, Sun Hung Kai Properties gained 1.1 per cent to HK$113.10, New World Development (17 HK) rose 0.8 per cent to HK$10.12.
MTR (66 HK) rose 0.7 per cent to HK$43.85.
Tencent (700 HK) rose 1.2 per cent to HK$333.80.
Meanwhile, Alibaba (9988 HK) rose for a second straight session, gaining 1.7 per cent to HK195.60.
-- Deb Price    


Hang Seng gains, with property stocks showing strong start

The Shanghai Composite Index opened 0.1  per cent higher to 2,902.28. The Shenzhen Composite Index opened 0.1 per cent higher to 9,804.04. 
The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (601398 CH) was flat, while Kweichow Moutai (600519 CH) rose 0.6 per cent to 1,135.97 yuan.
Among mainland stocks in addition to Kweichow Moutai that are heavily traded by northbound investors:
-- Jiangsu Hengrui Medicine (600276 CH)  rose 0.8 per cent to 86.42 yuan.
-- Ping An Insurance (601318 CH) rose 0.3 per cent to 84.9 yuan.
Among sectors, liquor stocks gained 0.1 per cent, gold-linked stocks dropped 0.3 per cent, while wireless headsets stocks rose 0.6 per cent, according to gauges tracking them.  
Apple AirPod supplier Luxshare Precision (002475 CH) gained 2 per cent to 36.75 yuan.
-- Snow Xia


Shanghai Composite rises at open; Kweichow Moutai, Luxshare Precision gain

Optimism a trade deal will be worked out is driving the Hong Kong market today, said Louis Tse Ming-kwong, managing director of VC Asset Management.
Investors also see 26,000 as a strong support level for the Hang Seng Index. On Thursday, the benchmark slipped below it during intra-day trading -- to 25,995.15 points -- but closed above at 26,217.04, breaking a two-day losing streak.
Bloomberg reported earlier in the week that the US and China are moving closer to reaching a phase-one trade deal, regardless of the frictions over US legislation supporting Uygur Muslims in Xinjiang  and Hong Kong protesters.
Meanwhile, investors are looking at subway operator MTR (66 HK) today as a bargain stock to pick up while it’s cheap. has been hammered by protests. Today it has risen 1.1 per cent to HK$44.05.
“Companies like MTR, they [investors] expect that kind of company’s worst is over. So there’s a bit of a buying this morning,” said Tse. 
The Hang Seng Index has risen 0.6 per cent to 26,371.96.
-- Snow Xia   


Optimism trade deal will come through is driving upbeat sentiment in Hong Kong, says analyst Tse

Alibaba (9988 HK) gained 2.6 per cent to HK$197.40, after Goldman Sachs initiated coverage with a “buy” rating and gave it a price target of HK$252, which is 31 per cent higher than Thursday’s close.
The Chinese e-commerce giant, which started trading its secondary shares in Hong Kong on November 26, has five buys and no holds or sells among analysts tracked by Bloomberg. Their consensus target price on it is HK$234.5. (Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post.)
-- Deb Price    


Alibaba jumps; Goldman Sachs rates it a ‘buy’, sees it gaining 31 per cent in 12 months

Four stocks are trading at levels that make them attractive for bargain hunters, says Louis Tse Ming-kwong, managing director of VC Asset Management. They are: MTR (0066 HK), China Overseas (0688 HK), Beijing Capital International Airport (0694 HK), and Sea Holdings (0251 HK).
MTR’s dividend is likely going up, and its traffic -- hurt by protests -- is expected to grow.  Investors expect MTR will pay out a final dividend of HK$ 1, higher than the dividend of HK$ 0.95 last year, Tse said. 
He likes China Overseas for its consistent profits. 
Beijing Capital International Airport is undervalued and it will rebound by the end of the year, he predicts. While many investors thought Beijing’s new second airport -- Daxing International Airport, which opened for business at the end of September -- would take away the flight traffic from Beijing Capital International Airport, Tse believes there is enough traffic to share.
In terms of the property stocks, Sea Holdings, which has property investment in Hong Kong, Australia, and the UK, Tse said, “Now this one has been suffering quite a bit because the UK pound has gone down heavily and Australian dollars as well. If the property prices in these two countries become stable or go up with the currency, and the exchange rates to the US dollar go up, this one could do very well in 2020.”
Tse said popular drug and tech stocks may not have much growth potential because have been bought heavily this year and their price-to-earning ratios are “sky high.“
-- Snow Xia


MTR, China Overseas, Beijing Capital International Airport, Sea Holdings worth looking  at by bargain hunters, says Louis Tse

The Hang Seng Index will start the afternoon with gains, boosted by optimism a US-China trade deal will be worked out.
It rose 0.7 per cent to 26,396.92 in morning trading, with 41 of its 50 constituent members rising. 
Property stocks gained, including Henderson Land (12 HK) rose 0.7 per cent to HK$37.75, Sun Hung Kai Property (16 HK) advanced 1.2 per cent to HK$113.20 and New World Development (17 HK) gained 1.4 per cent to HK$10.18.
Meanwhile, e-commerce giant Alibaba (9988 HK)rose 2.8 per cent to HK$197.80, while Tencent (700 HK), the social media and game titan, rose 1.5 per cent to HK$335.
The Shanghai Composite Index gained a teeny 0.02 per cent to 2,900. 
Among sectors on the mainland, wireless headset makers gained 1.9 per cent, gaming stocks rose 2.4 per cent, while new energy vehicles fell 1 per cent.
-- Deb Price     


Hang Seng boosted by trade optimism; property stocks gain, as well as Alibaba, Tencent

AAC Technologies (2018 HK), the miniaturised components maker that derives nearly half of its revenue from Apple, is rallying for the second straight session on expected strong iPhone shipments.
iPhone shipments are expected to grow by about 6 per cent year on year in 2020 and 8 per cent in 2021, Bloomberg reports TF International Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo as writing.
Meanwhile, Guoyuan International analyst Yang Sen expects AAC to get a boost from iPhone sales and bigger market share in Android business, Bloomberg reports.
The stock gained 7.7 per cent to HK$61.25 in early afternoon trading,  making it the biggest percentage gainer on the Hang Seng Index. On Thursday, it shot up 6.8 per cent.
This year, it has gained 34.4 per cent.   

-- Deb Price 


AAC Technologies soars for second straight session on expected strong iPhone shipments

Wireless earphone stocks continued to outperform the market, rising 3.8 per cent, after gaining 3.9 per cent Thursday. 
Gettop Acoustic (002655 CH) rose 1.5 per cent. Shenzhen Fenda Technology (002681 CH) jumped 9.9 per cent. Meanwhile, Edifier Technology (002351 CH) and Shenzhen Rapoo Technology (002577 CH) rose 10 per cent, the daily upside limit. 
The Shanghai Composite Index is up a tiny 0.08 per cent to 2,902.
Luxshare Precision Industry (002475 CH), the main assembler of AirPods, advanced 1.9 per cent to 36.72 yuan. 
GoerTek (002241 CH), which like Luxshare supplies to both Apple and Huawei, gained 1.2 per cent to 20.96 yuan.
Here’s a feature for investors about China’s wireless headset makers by stocks reporter Yujing Liu.
-- Snow Xia   


Wireless headsets outperform in China markets 

E-cigarettes stocks rose 2.7 per cent in China, according to a gauge that tracks them.
Shenzhen Jinjia (002191 CH) rose 7.1 per cent, Kunshan Kersen Science & Tech (603626 CH) rose 10 per cent, and EVE Energy (300014 CH) climbed 2.0 per cent.
Chinese authorities banned online e-cigarettes sales a month ago to try to protect adolescents from vaping. That is creating fierce battling among e-cigarettes companies in off-line sales channels, such as shopping malls and convenience stores.
It's not clear what percentage of e-cigarette sales were online. In a research reported on November 3, Tianfeng Securities said people preferred buying e-cigarettes in off-line channels so they could see and taste them, 21st Century Business Daily reported. The Tianfeng Securities team took the sales of RELX, China's largest e-cigarettes brand, as an example and calculated that the online sales of the brand accounted for no more than 10 per cent.
However, Xiao Lin, a researcher with the tobacco control office of China's Center for Disease Control and Prevention, cited data showing that about 10 million Chinese people aged 15 and over use e-cigarettes. About 45.4 percent of those people bought e-cigarettes on the internet, the researcher said.
-- Snow Xia


E-cigarette stocks rise, with competition intensifying in off-line channels like malls

Are traders getting ahead of the facts on the US-China trade deal?
Yes, says Brock Silvers, managing director of Adamas Asset Management.
“We’re definitely seeing some trade optimism in the market, and it seems unwarranted or at least significantly premature,” said Silvers. 
“(Donald) Trump has commented that a deal may be in the works for mid-December, but this is a common tactic with him.  No details have been released, and other reports claim that China needs more time to recover from recent US bills (supporting Hong Kong protesters and Uygur Muslims), while others report the two sides can’t even agree on the size of China’s future soy purchases.  I see no reason to think there’s an imminent deal, nor do we know what such a deal might include,” Silvers said.
The Hang Seng Index is on track for its second session of gains on growing optimism there will be a trade deal. It is up about 1 per cent to 26,475.96 in afternoon trading.
-- Deb Price    


Trade deal optimism driving up Hang Seng Index is ‘unwarranted or at least significantly premature,’ says analyst Brock Silvers

Stocks of tire pressure monitoring system makers have been on a roll this week.
From Monday through Thursday's close, they rose 13 per cent, the Securities Times reported, substantially more than the Shanghai Composite Index, which rose 0.6 per cent in that period.
Tire pressure monitoring stocks rose 0.7 per cent today, according to a gauge tracking them.
China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology announced on its official website in October that all new cars from the start of the new year will have to have electronic monitoring systems. The system alerts a driver if the car's tires have too little air. Underinflated tires are blamed for many accidents and deaths, and force a car to use more fuel, adding to pollution.
Gainers included Ningbo Tianlong Electronics (603266 CH), which jumped 6.8 per cent, and EVE Energy (300014 CH), which rose 3.1 per cent. Both trade on the Stock Connect.
-- Snow Xia


Stocks linked to tire pressure monitoring systems rising in China 

The Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.4 per cent to 2912.01, rising for a second straight day, while the Shenzhen Composite Index rose 0.8 per cent to 9,878.62, which was its fifth straight session of gains. 
The ChiNext closed 1.0 per cent higher at 1,726.80. 
Kweichow Moutai (600519 CH), the world’s most valuable liquor maker and one of the most heavily traded stocks on the Stock Connect, jumped 3.6 per cent to 1,170 yuan. That was its biggest percentage gain in more than two months. It shot up 5 per cent on September 18.
Wireless earphone stocks and e-cigarettes stocks were the top performing sectors.
Wireless earphone stocks rose 3.8 per cent today. 
Edifier Technology (002351 CH) shot up 10 per cent, after gaining 10 per cent yesterday.  Shenzhen Fenda Technology (002681 CH) rose 10 per cent. Luxshare Precision (002475 CH) -- a major Apple AirPod supplier -- rose 3.5 per cent. 
E-cigarette stocks advanced 3.4 per cent. Shenzhen Jinjia (002191 CH) rose 8.3 per cent, Kunshan Kersen Science & Tech (603626 CH) rose 10 per cent, and EVE Energy (300014 CH) climbed 3.1 per cent. 
Hydrogen energy and coal stocks underperformed, each one declining 0.2 per cent.
  -- Snow Xia   


China markets extend gains; Kweichow Moutai shoots up 3.6 per cent

The Hang Seng Index closed 1.1 per cent higher at 26,498.37, marking its second straight session of gains. Of its 50 constituent members, 46 rose.
Leading the Hang Seng Index in terms of percentage change were Apple supplier AAC Tech (2018 HK), which shot up 9 per cent, and Sunny Optical (2382 HK), which jumped 6 per cent. 
Property developers were among the day’s big gainers. Sun Hung Kai Properties (16 HK) rose 1.7 per cent, Henderson Land (12 HK) climbed 1.2 per cent, and New World Development (17 HK) advanced 1.6 per cent to HK$10.20.
In addition, tech stocks rallied strong today. 
Alibaba (9988 HK) jumped 2.8 per cent, posting its second straight session of gains. Tencent (700 HK) advanced 1.7 per cent. Xiaomi (1810 HK) rose 2.8 per cent. And Meituan Dianping (3690 HK) climbed 1.6 per cent.  
-- Snow Xia   


Hang Seng sees second straight session of gains