Hong Kong market falls as tech stocks lose most
05:00, 18 November 2021
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index extended losses on Thursday to fall over 1% by lunch break as tech heavyweights Alibaba Group and Tencent Holdings emerged as top losers.
Benchmark Hang Seng index fell about 1.3% to 25,305 by Thursday midday. The index closed 0.3% lower on Wednesday.
Tech stocks in Hong Kong tracked overnight losses on Nasdaq as Hang Seng TECH index dropped 3%.
Index heavyweights
E-commerce giant Alibaba Group was the top intraday loser in Hong Kong, down 4.9% to HKD156.7 by Thursday lunch, while WeChat operator Tencent Holdings slipped 2.5% to HKD496.4.
Year-to-date loss for Tencent came in at over 13% compared with Alibaba Group’s loss of over 31% in 2021, as of Thursday.
Meanwhile, news of cash-strapped property developer Evergrande selling its stake in video streaming firm HengTen Network Group to raise $273m was not enough to buoy property stock listed in Hong Kong as the Hang Seng Mainland Properties Index fell over 2% on Thursday.
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Energy stocks slump
Elsewhere, Australia’s benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index inched 0.2% higher to 7,386.80 as gains in mining and tech stocks overpowered losses in banks and energy firms.
Aussie banking stocks extended their losses on Thursday after the country’s biggest lender flagged weakness in interest margin a day earlier. All “Big Four” banks traded in the red on Thursday pushing the S&P/ASX 200 Financials index 0.4% lower.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 index fell 0.8% to 29,444.68 as energy stocks slumped after oil futures dropped on oversupply concerns. Topix-17 Energy Resources sectoral sub-index fell 4.5% by Thursday afternoon in Tokyo.
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