Hong Kong stocks advance as HSBC, AIA offer safety while tech firms attempt to shake off regulatory overhang
- HSBC and AIA led gainers as traders turned to financial stocks for safety amid regulatory overhang
- Alibaba and Tencent bid to contain the fallout from negative media publicity over sexual harassment and app-related case, respectively
The Hang Seng Index closed 0.4 per cent higher at 26,283.40 on Monday, swinging from an earlier loss of about 1 per cent. The tech benchmark slipped as much as 2 per cent before paring losses to 0.5 per cent. China’s Shanghai Composite Index climbed 1.1 per cent.
Financial stocks, seen as a safe haven, advanced as lender HSBC rose 1.4 per cent to HK$43.80, while insurer AIA gained 1.1 per cent to HK$93.15. China Construction Bank and ICBC both gained by more than 1.2 per cent. In contrast, Alibaba dropped 2.5 per cent to HK$188.70. Tencent climbed 1.7 per cent to HK$461.60, rebounding from a 2 per cent sell-off earlier.
“The fund flow in Hong Kong market seems to be a very strong signal for the market bottoming,” said Castor Pang, head of research at investment services firm Core Pacific-Yamaichi. “However, the market will not see a very strong uptrend at this moment.”
Hang Seng Index members received HK$25.9 billion (US$3.3 billion) of fund inflows in the first week of August, compared with HK$39.6 billion in July, according to data compiled by his firm.