Hong Kong stocks sink as Alibaba, BYD suffer on Fed hike bets, while China’s zero-Covid pain slams holiday spending
- The Hang Seng Index erased all of last week’s 3 per cent gain as bets for another jumbo rate hike are priced in after a US employment report on Friday
- China is doubling down on its zero-Covid plan to stem any flare-up in cases going into the Communist Party’s congress this weekend
The Hang Seng Index lost 3 per cent to 17,216.66 at the close of trading on Monday, adding to an almost HK$5 trillion (US$637 billion) rout among its 73 members this year. Today’s setback erased all of the rally last week. The Tech Index slid 4 per cent, while the Shanghai Composite Index retreated 1.7 per cent.
Alibaba Group tumbled 3.4 per cent to HK$78.60, Tencent weakened 2.8 per cent to HK$263, while Meituan plunged 6.5 per cent to HK$161.70. Top electric-car makers fell, with BYD sliding 3.9 per cent to HK$189.80 and Xpeng tumbling 6.8 per cent to HK$37.70.
Casino operator Sands China slumped 9.2 per cent to HK$19.66 while sportswear makers Li Ning and Anta Sports plunged 8.8 per cent and 5.3 per cent respectively.
A US labour data released on Friday shows that employers added higher than expected 263,000 jobs last month, while unemployment surprisingly sank to a five-decade low of 3.5 per cent. The robust report crushed hopes for a Federal Reserve pivot from its current hawkish bent.
