Hong Kong Stocks hit their 3-month lows following the tech collapse on Wall Street with tech giants like Alphabet and Tesla coming out with disappointing numbers and AI trade sliding into a cooldown phase along with companies like Meituan and Tencent are facing sharp declines in their share values.
Even after the Chinese Central Bank made its biggest rate cuts since the pandemic, including its key short-term policy rate, lending facility rate cuts, and the mortgage reference rate along with adding liquidity into the banking system, the sentiment looks sour.
The Chinese trade tensions overseas, Biden's backing out of the race, the discouraging domestic numbers, and a lingering property crisis have made the investors cautious and picky and have the analysts looking towards high-performing state-owned enterprises to outperform the stock market over the next one or two months, according to a strategist at Daiwa Capital Markets in a report.
The Hang Seng Index fell by 1.77%, or 306.08 points, to close Thursday's session at 17,004.97. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index fell by 2.05%, or 125.81 points, to close at 6,016.51.
The People's Bank of China slashed its benchmark rate for its one-year medium-term lending facility to 2.3% from 2.5%, according to a Thursday press release by the central bank. Simultaneously, the central bank also infused 235.1 billion yuan in additional liquidity into the banking system via seven-day reverse repurchase loans at a rate of 1.7%. The rate cut is the biggest that hit China since the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the Associated Press reported separately.
Xinhua News Agency reported Tuesday that the Chinese government will facilitate the borrowing of foreign medium- and long-term debt for credit-worthy firms in the country. Companies need to comply with national policies, be aligned with national macroeconomic policies, and meet other criteria to be eligible for the loans, and with revenues within the top 5 in their sector.
In corporate news, CSC Holdings (SGX:C06, HKG:0235) bought back 1.4 million shares in the open market on Wednesday for SG$9,148. The company has been authorized to buy back around 351.7 million shares and has so far bought back 7.3 million shares. The company's shares were down over 4% on Thursday's close.
Three D Partners bought back roughly 31.3 million shares of Newborn Town (HKG:9911) in the market from April 28 to July 24, of this, a little over 4.3 million shares were bought between Monday and Wednesday for around HK$14.9 million or HK$3.44 apiece. The company's shares were down over 6% on Thursday's close.
Meitu (HKG:1357) expects its net profit attributable to the owners for the six months ended June 30 to be at least 80% higher than the year-ago period. The company attributed the increased profits to its use of generative AI and the rapid globalization of its products. The company's shares were up over 7% on Thursday's close.
Comments