SHANGHAI: Hong Kong and mainland Chinese shares fell on Monday, dragged lower by falls in brokerages on uncertainty over the launch of a scheme linking the Hong Kong and Shanghai exchanges.
Key mainland indexes were also dragged to their lowest levels since early September after a key Communist Party meeting last week ended without any announcement of major policies to support the economy, analysts said.
The Shanghai Composite Index was down 0.6 percent at 2,287.6 points by the midday break while the CSI300 of the leading Shanghai and Shenzhen A-share listings fell 1 percent.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index edged down 0.8 percent to 23,105.6 points. The China Enterprises Index of the top Chinese listings in Hong Kong fell 1 percent.
"The delay (of the stock scheme) is the main reason," said Andy Wong, senior investment analyst at Harris Fraser (International) Ltd in Hong Kong.
But he added that the delay had been expected and the impact on the market would likely be short-lived.
The head of the Hong Kong stock exchange said on Sunday the stock trading agreement between Hong Kong and Shanghai, hailed as a milestone to open up China's markets to global investors, will not be launched this week as initially expected.
Analysts said while the delay had been widely expected, it was still having some impact on investor sentiment, already damaged by concerns over China's slowing economy.
Financials were the main drags on the mainland market with CITIC Securities and Haitong Securities, the country's two biggest listed brokerages, down 2.5 and 2.9 percent, respectively.
Financials were the biggest losers in Hong Kong as well.
Hong Kong-listed shares of CITIC Securities and Haitong Securities dropped 4 percent and 6.5 percent, respectively.
Bourse operator HK Exchange dropped 3.8 percent, and China Financial Leasing Group plunged 8.4 percent.
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