Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index slips as traders brace for China data and assess economic outlook
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Hong Kong stocks snapped a two-session wining streak, as traders awaited the release of China’s July economic data and weighed the strength of the global economy after US equities approached all-time highs.
The Hang Seng Index fell less than 0.1 per cent, or 13.35 points, to 25,230.67 at the close. The gauge changed directions at least 10 times in intraday trading.
Tencent Holdings dropped despite its better-than-expected earnings release. Next Digital tumbled by at least 40 per cent for a second day after the city’s securities regular warned against the risk of trading the stock. And China Unicom surged by the most on record after posting earnings that exceeded analysts’ estimates.
China’s Shanghai Composite Index added less than 0.1 per cent to 3,320.73. Major markets in Asia all rose, with the benchmarks in Japan and South Korea gaining at least 1.2 per cent, following a rally in overnight trading in the US that briefly drove the S&P 500 index past its record high set before the outbreak of the coronavirus epidemic.
“The fact that equities have mostly recovered all pandemic loss even as the real economy is nowhere near achieving that, it just seems so remarkably ridiculous,” said Stephen Innes, a strategist at AxiCorp.