Hong Kong stocks dipped slightly on Wednesday as weakness in financial and IT stocks offset strength in property and utility plays. At close of trade, the Hang Seng index was down 19.57 points or 0.07 percent at 29,234.09. The Hang Seng China Enterprises index fell 0.31 percent to 11,505.88.
The sub-index of the Hang Seng tracking energy shares rose 0.2 percent while the IT sector dipped 0.78 percent, the financial sector was 0.33 percent lower and property sector rose 0.31 percent. The top gainer on Hang Seng was Want China Holdings Ltd up 5.57 percent, while the biggest loser was Country Garden Holdings Company Ltd, which was down 3.35 percent.
So far this year, the Hang Seng index is up 32.97 percent, while China's H-share index is up 22.9 percent. As of the previous close, the Hang Seng has risen 0.26 percent this month. The top gainers among H-shares were Air China Ltd up 4.36 percent, followed by Zhuzhou CRRC Times Electric Co Ltd gaining 2.83 percent and Sinopharm Group Co Ltd up by 1.41 percent.
The three biggest H-shares percentage decliners were New China Life Insurance Co Ltd which was down 3.36 percent, Byd Co Ltd which fell 2.1 percent and China Vanke Co Ltd down by 1.8 percent. About 1.35 billion Hang Seng index shares were traded, roughly 68.7 percent of the market's 30-day moving average of 1.97 billion shares a day. The volume traded in the previous trading session was 1.68 billion.
The price-to-earnings ratio of the Hang Seng index was 13.34 as of the last full trading day while the dividend yield was 3 percent. So far this week, the market capitalisation of the Hang Seng index has risen by 1.36 percent to HK$19.15 trillion.