Hong Kong stocks surrender gains as property debt concerns unnerve market while tech rally fizzles out

Hang Seng retreated for a sixth day as worries about Chinese property debt defaults unnerved traders

Tech stocks including Meituan and Baidu surrendered most of their early gains in line with weakening sentiment in late trading

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A bull sculpture seen outside the Exchange Square in Central. Hong Kong. Sentiment improves following overnight gains in US equities and Chinese ADRs. Photo: Dickson Lee

Published: 10:36am, 2 Nov 2021Updated: 6:09pm, 2 Nov 2021

Hong Kong stocks fell for a sixth day as Chinese technology companies surrendered much of their gains. Property and bank stocks dragged the market lower as debt default concerns curbed optimism.

The Hang Seng Index fell 0.2 per cent to 25,099.67 at the close of Tuesday trading, reversing a rally of as much as 1.9 per cent. The Hang Seng Tech Index also closed on a whimper with a 0.6 per cent gain, after surging by as much as 3.7 per cent.

Citic slid 6.4 per cent while China Merchants Bank lost 5.8 per cent and developer Longfor Group declined 5.6 per cent, leading the index losers.

China Evergrande slumped 2.9 per cent, dragging some property stocks lower amid worries about widening defaults after Yango Group sought to delay repayment by up to eight months on US$500 million worth of bonds maturing in the first quarter next year. The developer said it may not have enough cash to redeem the offshore bonds.

Chinese Big Tech held up the market before sentiment flipped in late afternoon trading. Alibaba Group Holding and Meituan both added at least 1.3 per cent, while Bilibili and Baidu advanced by more than 3 per cent. All surrendered a big chunk of their early gains.

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