Hong Kong shares retreated on Tuesday after a brief rally on Monday, reflecting investor uncertainty following the recent Chinese economic plenum.
The Hang Seng Index fell by 0.94%, or 166.52 points, to close Tuesday's session at 17,469.36. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index declined by 0.95%, or 59.25 points, to close at 6,194.69.
While the plenum outlined broad policy strokes, the lack of concrete details and a disappointing national budget revenue report dampened market sentiment.
Several ministers will be releasing their interpretations of the third plenum's policies and how the government plans to achieve its development and growth targets by the year-end.
On the economic front, Hong Kong's overall consumer prices rose 1.5% year over year in June based on the Composite Consumer Price Index (CPI), higher than the 1.2% increase seen in May, a Monday report by the Census and Statistics Department said.
Meanwhile, a survey by the statistics department revealed that 11% of respondents from various business niches in Hong Kong expect their business situation to improve quarter-over-quarter in Q3, while 12% forecast a worse situation, in particular, more respondents in the construction and retail sectors expect adverse conditions during the third quarter than in Q2.
In corporate news, Huayu Expressway Group's (HKG:1823) shares fell nearly 6% at the close of trading on Tuesday after the company said it expects to record a profit from continuing operations of between 16.6 million yuan and 18.4 million yuan for the six months ended June 30, down from 27.6 million yuan a year earlier.
Meanwhile, Prosperous Industrial (HKG:1731) shares surged nearly 19% after the company said it expects its attributable profit to rise by 80% to 90% year over year in the first half of the year.
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