Thirty local brokerages have closed down this year, after a record 49 shut shop in 2022, as the Hong Kong stock market heads into its fourth year of declines, the longest losing streak in its history.

Stocks trade around 13-month lows as investors worried about weakness in the world’s second-largest economy and tech giant Tencent dived amid concerns about further selling by its major shareholder.

Stocks were dealt a blow on Thursday after Moody’s lowered its outlook on major Chinese lenders and insurers. China’s imports unexpectedly shrank last month. offering no help in a fragile market.

The proposed change also aims to lower management fees to ‘maintain and increase’ the value of the fund, which supports China’s welfare system.

WuXi Biologics and Meituan are among four companies getting a US$2.6 billion stock-buying support following a punishing two weeks as the Hang Seng Index slides to a 13-month low.

Stocks rebound from a 13-month low, snapping a three-day slump. Some companies are quickly pushing for buy-backs to help stem losses and shore up market confidence.

WuXi Biologics sank after earnings cuts while Lenovo crashed after its chairman sold some of his holding. Economic slowdown has prompted Moody’s to lower China’s rating outlook to negative, putting its A1 grade at risk.

The move is meant to allow Alibaba (China) Network, established in 1999, to focus on its main businesses, according to filings.

Some leading fund managers are positioning themselves for a bull run in Chinese stocks, as they bet on a lasting economic recovery to revive confidence and appetite for equities.

Hong Kong stocks eased to a new 13-month low as concerns that more weak Chinese economic data will emerge this week, offsetting positivity from state efforts to support equities.

As China’s economic expansion slows, mainland companies are eyeing the Middle East as an attractive alternative, with countries in the region seeking to develop tech-driven start-up ecosystems to reduce reliance on fossil fuels as a growth driver.

Demi Guo, co-founder of Pika Labs, is the daughter of Guo Huaqiang, former chairman of Hangzhou-based IT services company Sunyard Technology.

‘Things could get worse before getting better’, and beaten-down Chinese stocks might not be able to turn the corner soon, analysts say A private report released on Friday pointing to an unexpected expansion in manufacturing data failed to overturn the bearish mood.

China’s intensifying property crisis poses a risk to economic recovery at a time when policy measures are ineffective and these factors will keep markets volatile and rangebound in 2024, analysts and fund managers say.

‘We anticipate a revenue slowdown because management expects consumers to be more cautious and value-oriented,’ a Morningstar analyst says, as at least 30 brokers slash their 12-month price target by 10 to 49 per cent.

Foreign investors pulled out of Chinese onshore stocks for a fourth straight month in November, extending a record exodus amid lack of conviction about the strength of recovery in the world’s second-largest economy.

New China Life Insurance and China Life Insurance will each invest US$3.5 billion in the equity fund that will be managed by a joint venture called Honghu Private Securities Investment Fund.

Local stocks completed a losing month in November after manufacturing in China contracted again in November, underscoring concerns about recovery momentum. An exodus of funds persisted.

Global fund managers are calling time on this year’s relentless sell-off in Chinese assets, saying excessive pessimism that hammered everything from stocks to the yuan and corporate bonds has run its course.

Charlie Munger, a former lawyer, was Warren Buffett’s deputy at Berkshire Hathaway. He was a value investor who believed in long-term investments and companies’ intrinsic value.

Meituan plunged after warning about a slowdown in demand, erasing all of the stock’s post-Covid rebound. The Hang Seng Index has erased all of its gain in November, having also lost 15 per cent in preceding three months.

The BSE 50 Index sinks by a record after the exchange moves to tamp down a rally of more than 50 per cent in the last month. The 232 stocks that trade on the bourse have a market capitalisation of US$58.3 billion.

Local stocks suffered another bout of selling amid concerns about China’s weakening earnings and recovery momentum. Small-caps sank by a record in Beijing, while SenseTime tumbled after a short-seller attack.

Progress in central bank digital currencies in China is ‘already on track’ and the ‘final stage is not very far away’, said former head of the People’s Bank of China at a conference in Hong Kong.

Index compiler China Securities Index is making a conscious effort to increase the representation of tech firms in the CSI 300 Index. The gauge is among the worst-performing benchmarks globally this year.

Stocks fell, approaching a two-week low, before government reports this week that may show China’s struggle to revive its faltering economy. Banks led losses, while BYD tumbled on concerns about EV price war.

Stocks pared gains in week as corporate earnings so far from Hang Seng Index members trailed market projection with tech and banks among the biggest culprits.

Hong Kong stocks close at one-week high as Chinese property stocks rally after Shenzhen cuts down payment for second-home buyers.

Asian bonds nearing distressed territory have almost doubled since mid-2021 mainly due to China’s property sector which is facing economic and liquidity challenges, according to a Morningstar report.