AGL 40.00 Decreased By ▼ -0.01 (-0.02%)
AIRLINK 127.00 Decreased By ▼ -0.99 (-0.77%)
BOP 6.68 Increased By ▲ 0.08 (1.21%)
CNERGY 4.49 Decreased By ▼ -0.11 (-2.39%)
DCL 8.60 Increased By ▲ 0.12 (1.42%)
DFML 41.30 Decreased By ▼ -0.18 (-0.43%)
DGKC 86.71 Increased By ▲ 0.13 (0.15%)
FCCL 32.16 Increased By ▲ 0.02 (0.06%)
FFBL 64.70 Decreased By ▼ -0.72 (-1.1%)
FFL 10.29 Increased By ▲ 0.04 (0.39%)
HUBC 109.51 Decreased By ▼ -0.98 (-0.89%)
HUMNL 14.90 Increased By ▲ 0.15 (1.02%)
KEL 5.05 Decreased By ▼ -0.08 (-1.56%)
KOSM 7.40 Increased By ▲ 0.28 (3.93%)
MLCF 41.39 Decreased By ▼ -0.26 (-0.62%)
NBP 60.60 Increased By ▲ 0.51 (0.85%)
OGDC 190.00 Decreased By ▼ -4.69 (-2.41%)
PAEL 27.81 Decreased By ▼ -0.14 (-0.5%)
PIBTL 7.75 Decreased By ▼ -0.25 (-3.13%)
PPL 149.75 Decreased By ▼ -1.42 (-0.94%)
PRL 26.73 Decreased By ▼ -0.15 (-0.56%)
PTC 16.18 Increased By ▲ 0.18 (1.13%)
SEARL 86.02 Increased By ▲ 7.82 (10%)
TELE 7.72 Increased By ▲ 0.33 (4.47%)
TOMCL 35.58 Decreased By ▼ -0.09 (-0.25%)
TPLP 8.14 Increased By ▲ 0.23 (2.91%)
TREET 16.51 Increased By ▲ 0.62 (3.9%)
TRG 53.35 Increased By ▲ 0.59 (1.12%)
UNITY 26.28 Decreased By ▼ -0.27 (-1.02%)
WTL 1.26 Decreased By ▼ -0.01 (-0.79%)
BR100 9,889 Decreased By -31.1 (-0.31%)
BR30 30,611 Decreased By -140.9 (-0.46%)
KSE100 93,355 Increased By 130.9 (0.14%)
KSE30 28,931 Increased By 46 (0.16%)

SHANGHAI: China and Hong Kong stocks declined on Friday but booked their best week in a month, as investors lowered expectations for Beijing’s fiscal stimulus package and took profit ahead of the announcement.

Chinese authorities said that they would allow local governments to issue six trillion yuan ($838.77 billion) in bonds to swap for off-balance sheet or “hidden” debt over three years.

Investors appeared disappointed with the size of the plan, with the Hang Seng Index widenening losses in the final minutes before the market closed at 4:15 p.m.

All eyes are on details of Beijing’s fiscal stimulus after US elections, which some expect will be more forceful in the face of tariff threats from US President-elect Donald Trump.

Reuters earlier reported China is considering approving the issuance of over 10 trillion yuan ($1.4 trillion) in extra debt in the next few years to revive its fragile economy, addressing local debts, property and consumption. Both China and Hong Kong markets opened higher following Wall Street bullishness overnight as the Federal Reserve cut interest rates by 25 basis points as expected, adding fuel to a risk rally sparked by Trump’s election victory. But at the close China’s blue-chip CSI300 Index fell 1%, while the Shanghai Composite Index was down 0.5%. For the week though, both gauges were still up more than 5%.

In Hong Kong, the benchmark Hang Seng Index lost 1.1%, but logged its first weekly gain since October.

Zhiwei Zhang, chief economist at Pinpoint Asset Management said it is unrealistic to expect the government to announce details of fiscal stimulus for next year at Friday’s meeting.

“I think the messages from the press conference are positive for China’s macro outlook.” As the highly anticipated stimulus was about to be announced, some market watchers warned that investor expectations were too high and said they believed most funds will go toward reduced local government debt burdens and won’t offer much of a boost to near-term economic growth.

Comments

200 characters