HK stocks end lower as JD.com drags; China shares slip

22 Aug, 2024

SHANGHAI: Hong Kong stocks ended lower on Wednesday, weighed down by JD.com following a stake sale by top shareholder Walmart, while China shares also fell.

Walmart is seeking to raise up to $3.74 billion by selling its stake in Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com , according to a term sheet seen by Reuters, as the US retailer focuses on its own operations in China.

JD.com tumbled 8.7% and dragged tech shares down 1.9% in Hong Kong.

Electric vehicle maker Xpeng fell 2.2% after it forecast third-quarter revenue below analysts’ expectations and missed June-quarter sales estimates.

Some video game and related concept stocks jumped, with Zhejiang Publishing & Media up 10%, after a new video game title was launched on Tuesday by a Tencent-backed startup and became the most-played game on a major online platform.

At the close, the Shanghai Composite index was down 0.35% at 2,856.58.

The blue-chip CSI300 index was down 0.33%, with its financial sector sub-index lower by 0.55%, the consumer staples sector down 0.81%, the real estate index down 1.03% and the healthcare sub-index down 0.72%.

The smaller Shenzhen index ended 0.28% lower and the start-up board ChiNext Composite index was weaker by 0.603%.

The Hang Seng index was down 135.36 points or 0.77% at 17,345.53. The Hang Seng China Enterprises index fell 0.97% to 6,121.49.

Around the region, MSCI’s Asia ex-Japan stock index was weaker by 0.52%, while Japan’s Nikkei index closed down 0.29%.

At 07:48, the yuan was quoted at 7.1344 per US dollar, 0.07% weaker than the previous close of 7.1297.

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