Alibaba, Tencent drag Hong Kong stocks to weekly loss as China douses bullish easing bets while Zhihu slumps in debut

Name: My take: living under Shanghai’s Covid-19 lockdown
Uploaded: 2022-04-22T02:37:10.000Z
Duration: 3 min 27 s
Description: My take: living under Shanghai’s Covid-19 lockdown

China offered no respite for market bulls after the central bank withheld its easing firepower and President Xi downplayed Covid-19 impact on economy

Zhihu lost more than one-fifth of its market value as US delisting pressure marred debut

Reading Time:2 minutes

Why you can trust SCMP

People walk past an electronic board showing the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong on April 22. Photo: AFP

Cheryl Heng

Published: 10:37am, 22 Apr 2022Updated: 5:17pm, 22 Apr 2022

Hong Kong stocks tumbled in its biggest weekly drop in six, after China indicated no hurry to reflate its faltering economy. Zhihu lost more than a fifth of its market value as US delisting concerns marred its trading debut.

The Hang Seng Index slipped 0.2 per cent to a five-week low of 20,638.52 at the close of Friday trading. The index fell every day this week, bringing the setback to 4.1 per cent. The Tech Index rose 0.3 per cent, while the Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.2 per cent in Friday trading.

Tencent declined 2.1 per cent to HK$340.60, while Alibaba Group Holding dropped 1.4 per cent to HK$86.65, pacing losses. Galaxy Entertainment and Ping An Insurance both weakened more than 1.9 per cent while PetroChina fell 0.8 per cent.

China’s central bank doused bullish bets on policy easing after offering a token 25-basis point cut in banks’ reserve ratio last week, the smallest reduction in history. Commercial banks also kept their lending rates unchanged. President Xi Jinping offered no respite at the Boao Forum on Thursday, saying the economy remains resilient despite Covid-19 lockdowns.

“Hong Kong stocks are just unattractive, no matter how you imagine it,” Stanley Chik, research director at Bright Smart Securities, said in a note on Friday. “China’s economic outlook has become uncertain.”

The 66 Hang Seng Index members have lost more than US$130 billion in market value this week and US$368 billion this year. Bullish investors soaking up Chinese stocks have yet to see any major economic stimulus, despite China’s pledge to support the economy and markets.

03:27

My take: living under Shanghai’s Covid-19 lockdown

China’s securities watchdog on Thursday again called on institutional investors to buy more domestic stocks, saying the long-term growth momentum was still intact. It was the third time the regulator has chimed in to shore up confidence in the market.