Hong Kong shares fall

Shares in Hong Kong ended lower on Wednesday, dragged by property developers as China's government vowed to "resolutely curb" home price increases, and as weak data and an escalating trade war dimmed the outlook for growth in China. At close of trade, the Hang Seng index was down 0.85 percent to 28,340.74, while the China Enterprises Index lost 0.5 percent to 10,973.04. Shares in China's real estate sector slid, on anticipation of more measures to curb the country's red-hot property prices after a meeting of the country's Politburo, a top decision-making body of the ruling Communist Party.
Shares in developer Country Garden dropped 6.09 percent, continuing a recent slump. Lat week the company said it had halted all projects in China for security inspections following a deadly accident at one of its construction sites. The sub-index of the Hang Seng tracking property shares dipped 1.7 percent and energy shares fell 0.7 percent, while the IT sector rose 0.08 percent. The financial sector was 0.85 percent lower. The top gainer on Hang Seng was WH Group Ltd, up 2.54 percent, while the biggest loser was Country Garden Holdings Co Ltd, which was down 6.58 percent.
As of the previous session, the Hang Seng index was down 4.47 percent this year, while China's H-share index was down 5.8 percent. As of the previous close, the Hang Seng had declined 1.29 percent this month. The top gainers among H-shares were CSPC Pharmaceutical Group Ltd, up 2.2 percent, followed by Sinopharm Group Co LTD, gaining 1.96 percent, and Great Wall Motor Co Ltd, up by 1.95 percent. The three biggest H-shares percentage decliners were China Resources Land Ltd, which was down 3.83 percent, Huaneng Power International Inc, which fell 3.4 percent, and China Vanke Co Ltd, down by 3.0 percent. About 1.56 billion Hang Seng index shares were traded, roughly 80.6 percent of the market's 30-day moving average of 1.94 billion shares a day. The volume traded in the previous trading session was 1.51 billion. At close, China's A-shares were trading at a premium of 16.34 percent over the Hong Kong-listed H-shares.
The price-to-earnings ratio of the Hang Seng index was 11.2 as of the last full trading day, while the dividend yield was 3.3 percent. So far this week, the market capitalisation of the Hang Seng index has fallen by 1.05 percent to HK$18.49 trillion.
The short and one-factor leveraged Hang Seng index, which is designed to replicate the payoff of a short or leveraged portfolio and is linked to the movements of the Hang Seng Index, was higher by 0.85 percent on the day at 4,992.14 points.