HONG KONG: China and Hong Kong stocks fell sharply on Friday with blue-chip CSI300 and Shanghai Composite posting their biggest single-day losses since Oct. 9, dragged down by big tech firms’ disappointing earnings and investors’ fears over US President-elect Donald Trump’s future policies on China.
The Shanghai Composite index closed 3.06% lower at 3,267.19.
The CSI300 index lost 3.1%, its financial sector sub-index eased 3.38%, the consumer staples sector fell 2.96%, the real estate index dropped 2.95% and the healthcare sub-index shed 3.8%.
Biotech firms and brokerages led the decline, slipping more than 4% each.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index dipped 371.14 points, or 1.89%, to 19,229.97, Hang Seng China Enterprises index slid 2.1% to 6,887.05 and Hang Seng Tech Index lost 2.6%.
“It doesn’t look like any single news triggered the major sell-off today... if you look at the sectors heavily hit, it appears market is a bit worried about more upcoming US policy against China,” said Steven Leung, executive director of institutional sales at UOB Kay Hian.
The Texas governor on Thursday ordered state agencies to stop investing in China and sell assets there as soon as possible.
A Reuters poll this week showed the Trump administration could impose nearly 40% tariffs on Chinese imports early next year.
Meanwhile, e-commerce giant PDD Holdings and search engine operator Baidu posted lower-than-expected third-quarter results, indicating that the economy continues to face challenges despite the recent stimulus measures.
Baidu’s Hong Kong shares slumped 8.6% at close after the firm said it has not seen any notable improvement in advertising spending patterns or consumer spending yet.
Investors are losing patience as there hasn’t been any further official measures after the fiscal stimulus failed to meet market expectations, Leung said.
The smaller Shenzhen index lost 3.54% and the start-up board ChiNext Composite index eased 3.985%.
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