Hong Kong stocks sank 3.2 percent on Thursday as Wall Street's tumble prompted investors to bail out across the board, with oil issues leading the losses and PetroChina Co Ltd falling for a fifth straight day. But blue chip Hong Kong & China Gas set a life high after Henderson Land said it would sweeten its offer for a stake in the company.
Henderson Investment, which would sell the stake to Henderson Land, also struck a record. China Overseas Land and Investment Ltd scaled an all-time peak on news that it would join the benchmark Hang Seng Index next month, a first for a mainland real estate company.
Selling accelerated before the midday break in step with Tokyo, with losses deepening after the break when mainland markets took a dive amid jitters about further monetary tightening. The benchmark Hang Seng Index, supported at 28,500 points, closed down 948.71 points to end at 28,760.22, or 10 percent off its peak set in late October.
The China Enterprises index of H shares, or Hong Kong-listed shares in mainland companies, now just below its 40 day moving average, dropped 4.5 percent, or 835.27 points, to 17,716.86.
"This time is different from August," said William Fong, fund manager at Baring Asset Management, noting that in the last significant correction, US financial companies had yet to report their third-quarter results. Also, more China factors were in play now. "I see credit tightening in commodity sectors. The government's attitude towards tightening is affecting the market," Fong said.
"It may take longer for the correction to moderate." Patrick Shum, strategist at Karl-Thomson Securities, said the market should stabilise around current levels and trade within a narrow range in the near term.
Oil issues posted steep losses, with the world's largest-capitalised company PetroChina Co Ltd, also the day's most active stock, sinking 7.4 percent to HK$16. Top Asian refiner Sinopec Corp skidded 8.1 percent to HK$10.42. Other resource issues, excluding gold, also declined sharply. Aluminium Corp of China (Chalco), the country's top alumina producer, was off 5.3 percent at HK$18.06. Jiangxi Copper buckled nearly 8 percent to HK$21.05.
China Overseas Land supported the mainland real estate sector, rising 1.3 percent to HK$19.42 in heavy trade. KWG Property climbed 4.3 percent to HK$15.2. SOHO China Ltd leapt nearly 10 percent to HK$11.92.
Hong Kong and China Gas was up 4.4 percent at HK$21.6 and Henderson Investment bolted nearly 9 percent higher to HK$16.42 after Henderson Land Development Co Ltd said it would offer an additional HK$3.12 billion (US $400 million) in cash for Henderson Investment Ltd's stake in the city's gas distributor.
Henderson Land tumbled 6.3 percent to HK$67.35. Chinese e-commerce play Alibaba.com rose 1.7 percent to HK$33.15, two days after its market debut when its shares nearly tripled. Mainboard turnover was HK$148.9 billion (US $19.1 billion) compared with Wednesday's HK$159.6 billion.
Comments
Comments are closed.