Hong Kong shares ended lower on Monday, led by technology stocks, amid lingering worries over Sino-US trade disputes that has embroiled Chinese telecom equipment maker ZTE. The Hang Seng index ended 0.5 percent lower at 30,254.40, while the China Enterprises Index closed 0.5 percent lower at 12,000.16 points.
ZTE's Hong Kong-traded shares was suspended from trading last week, after the United States said it would ban American companies from selling components to the Chinese company for seven years, a move ZTE said threatened its very survival. Several Chinese mutual fund managers with exposure to ZTE shares in Hong Kong have slashed the stock's valuation by roughly 20 percent.
The sub-index of the Hang Seng tracking energy shares dipped 0.9 percent, while the IT sector dipped 1.43 percent, the financial sector was 0.12 percent lower and property sector dipped 0.95 percent.
The top gainer on Hang Seng was Want Want China Holdings Ltd, which ended higher by 3.29 percent, while the biggest loser was Sunny Optical Technology Group Co Ltd, which ended down 6.95 percent.
As of previous trading session, the Hang Seng index was up 1.67 percent this year, while China's H-share index rose 2.9 percent. As of previous close, the Hang Seng climbed 1.08 percent this month. The top gainers among H-shares were Air China Ltd up 3.12 percent, followed by Postal Savings Bank of China Co Ltd gaining 2.52 percent and Guangzhou Automobile Group Co Ltd up by 2.21 percent.
The three biggest H-shares percentage decliners were CSPC Pharmaceutical Group Ltd, which ended down 3.31 percent, Huaneng Power International Inc, which closed 2.4 percent down and China Vanke Co Ltd down by 2.3 percent. About 1.56 billion Hang Seng index shares were traded, roughly 83.8 percent of the market's 30-day moving average of 1.87 billion shares a day. The volume traded in the previous trading session was 1.71 billion.