Hong Kong's main Hang Seng index closed at a two-week low on Tuesday, dragged by financial and property stocks, while China's H-shares index fell most in more than three months amid signs of weakness in China's manufacturing sector. ** Traders said US President saying it was "too soon" for Washington to talk to Beijing about working out a deal on trade also dampened appetite for taking risk.
At close of trade, the Hang Seng index was down 662.14 points, or 2.38 percent, at 27,126.38. The Hang Seng China Enterprises index fell 2.39 percent to 10,754.56. HSI financial sub-index was 2.76 percent lower and property sector dipped 2.65 percent. The sub-index of the Hang Seng tracking energy shares dipped 0.54 percent, while the IT sector was down 1.82 percent.
Growth in China's manufacturing sector sputtered in September as both external and domestic demand weakened, two surveys showed on Sunday. The top gainer on Hang Seng was WH Group, up 0.91 percent, while the biggest loser was Swire Pacific, which was down 4.9 percent.
Around the region, MSCI's Asia ex-Japan stock index was weaker by 1.6 percent, while Japan's Nikkei index closed up 0.1 percent. MGM China led slide in gaming stocks after Chinese territory of Macau posted a slightly slower-than-estimated growth in gambling revenues in September. The top gainers among H-shares were People's Insurance Group of China Co Ltd up 1.99 percent, followed by China Telecom, gaining 1.8 percent and CNOOC, up by 0.9 percent.
The three biggest H-shares percentage decliners were China Gas Holdings Ltd, which was down 8.8 percent, Guangzhou Automobile Group, which fell 7.27 percent and Great Wall Motor Co Ltd, down by 6.01 percent.