Chinese stocks snap five-day rally as manufacturing data for September disappoints investors
- Hang Seng Index ends day with small loss as traders await details of Chief Executive Carrie Lam’s policy address
Chinese stocks snapped five straight days of gains after September’s manufacturing data dropped the most in over three years, underlining the pressure faced by mainland companies amid the 15-month US-China trade war.
The benchmark Shanghai Composite fell 0.6 per cent to 2991.05, while the CSI 300, which tracks blue chips listed on Shenzhen and Shanghai, eased 0.4 per cent to 3,936.25.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng snapped three days of gains, ending marginally lower at 26,506.93. Traders stayed on the sidelines ahead of Chief Executive Carrie Lam Yuet-ngor’s policy address on Wednesday.
Linus Cheung, chief strategist at First Shanghai Securities, said that given the state of Hong Kong’s social unrest and economic downturn, “traders will be closely watching for more details on the government’s land and housing policies”.
These issues were partly responsible for triggering the more than four-month protests.
Cheung noted that even if Hong Kong property stocks were to move on news from the policy address, their impact on the index was likely to be subdued.