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Hong Kong stocks fall the most in two weeks as AIA reports worse-than-expected decline in new business
- AIA blames virus for hampering face-to-face policy sales
- US suspends extradition treaty with Hong Kong, souring sentiment
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Hong Kong stocks fell the most in nearly two weeks as insurance giant AIA reported a worse-than-expected decline in new business and the US suspended extradition and other pacts with the city over its new national security law.
AIA, only second to Tencent in weighting on the benchmark Hang Seng Index, plunged 3.3 per cent on Thursday after reporting the value of its new business fell 37 per cent in the first six months of the year compared to the same period in 2019, worse than Bloomberg-tracked analysts’ estimate of a 30 per cent drop. It blamed the coronavirus for hurting face-to-face policy sales. AIA’s fall was the second-biggest on the index.
Other insurance providers fell in tandem. China Life Insurance dropped 2.1 per cent, while Ping An decreased 1.1 per cent.
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The Hang Seng Index fell 1.5 per cent to 24,791.39 on Thursday.
The benchmark had dropped by as much as 2.2 per cent, but losses tightened after China’s Ministry of Commerce said in the late afternoon that trade talks with the US would take place over the coming days. The talks to review the progress of the phase one deal had originally been scheduled for last weekend.
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“The two sides have agreed to hold a call in the coming days,” said spokesman Gao Feng on Thursday when asked when the talks would be held.
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