February Starts Hot: Hong Kong Opens Sharply Lower
Hong Kong stocks opened February under pressure. The Hang Seng Index opened down 289 points at 27,097, then widened to a 390-point (-1.42%) decline to 26,996. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index fell 165 points (-1.78%) to 9,151, while the Hang Seng Tech Index weakened 123 points (-2.15%) to 5,595. Mainboard trading volume reached HK$30.1 billion.
The pressure was felt most strongly in large tech stocks. Tencent fell 1.3%, Alibaba Group fell 2.6%, Meituan fell 0.7%, Xiaomi fell 0.8%, JD.com fell 0.3%, and Kuaishou fell 1%.
In the financial sector, the trend was mixed, but more downward. HSBC fell 0.5% and Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing fell 0.5%. On the other hand, AIA Group rose 0.8%, while Ping An Insurance fell 1.3%.
Gold mining stocks were also under pressure after gold prices corrected, deepening selling pressure. Zijin Mining plummeted 9.9%, Zijin Gold International fell 8.1%, Zhaojin Mining slumped 9.3%, and Shandong Gold plunged 10.8%.
Another major trigger came from mainland China's telecommunications sector: news of service tax/VAT adjustments weighed on sentiment, sending China Unicom down 9.9% and China Telecom down 7.9%. The combination of commodity (gold) corrections, tech pressures, and tax sentiment in telecoms made the Hong Kong opening difficult from the first bell. (mrv)
Source: Newsmaker.id
