Hang Seng Index falls after NYSE moves to delist Chinese telecoms firms and US officials weigh Alibaba, Tencent ban

Hang Seng Index closes 0.5 per cent lower, snapping three consecutive days of advances; Shanghai Composite ends 0.7 per cent higher

Sell-off in China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom wipes off US$11.47 billion in market value after NYSE once again moves to delist them

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The New York Stock Exchange is going ahead with plans to delist shares of three Chinese state-owned phone carriers, including China Mobile. Photo: AP Photo

Published: 11:02am, 7 Jan 2021Updated: 5:24pm, 7 Jan 2021

Hong Kong markets dropped amid rising US-China tensions after the New York Stock Exchange reversed course again to delist three Chinese telecoms giants and a media report said that US officials were also considering banning investments in Alibaba and Tencent.

The Hang Seng Index fell 0.5 per cent to 27,548.52, ending three consecutive days of advances. The Shanghai Composite gained 0.7 per cent for its fourth straight day of gains.

The New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday said it was moving forward to delist three Chinese telecommunications carriers again less than two days after it halted that plan.

The decision was based on “new specific guidance received on Jan. 5, 2021, that the Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control provided to the NYSE”, the exchange said in a statement. “The issuers have a right to a review of this determination.”

The mobile phone carriers led losses among blue chips on the benchmark Hang Seng Index. China Unicom dived 11.4 per cent to HK$4.45, its biggest fall in more than two months. China Mobile plunged 7.2 per cent to HK$43.30, while China Telecom tumbled 9.4 per cent to HK$2.03. The sell-off wiped off a combined HK$88.96 billion (US$11.47 billion) of their market value.