China Evergrande lost almost a fifth of its value after saying that the creditor meetings scheduled for this week would be scrapped because of poorer-than-expected sales
the latest setback dealt a further blow to investor confidence amid worried China’s piecemeal stimulus measures would be insufficient to arrest an economic slowdown
Hong Kong stocks fell, opening the week on a sombre note, over concerns China’s property woes will intensify after China Evergrande Group, the world’s most indebted developer, said it would cancel creditor meetings dealing a setback to its debt restructuring plans.
The Hang Seng Index slid 1.4 per cent to 17,812.42 as of 10.45am local time. The Hang Seng Tech Index dropped 2 per cent and the Shanghai Composite Index retreated 0.4 per cent.
Country Garden Services Holdings slumped 4.8 per cent to HK$8.17 and Longfor Group slid 5.2 per cent to HK$14.36. E-commerce platform JD.com dropped 3.5 per cent to HK$116.10, within range of its record closing low, and Meituan sank 2.6 per cent to HK$117.70. Tencent dropped 2.5 per cent to HK$305.80, Alibaba dropped 1.1 per cent to HK$85, and NIO fell 3.4 per cent to HK$66.10.
China Evergrande tumbled 19 per cent HK$0.445 after saying in an exchange filing that the meetings scheduled for this week would be scrapped because of poorer-than-expected sales.
Last week, local stocks had dropped for a third consecutive week as traders fretted that China’s piecemeal stimulus measures would not be enough to stem a slowdown in economic growth. So far, Beijing has cut the mortgage rates on first-home purchases, scrapped purchase restrictions in some of the major cities and reduced banks’ reserve requirement ratio, but that has failed to cheer investors.
Four companies made their trading debut on Monday. LC Logistics dropped 1.6 per cent to HK$5.05 and Wuhan YZY Biopharma added 2.3 per cent to HK$16.36 in Hong Kong. Jiangsu Hengxing New Material Technology, which makes chemical products, jumped 28.5 per cent to 33.05 yuan in Shanghai and Anhui Wanbang Pharmaceutical Technology rose 5.4 per cent to 71.51 yuan in Shenzhen.
Other major Asian markets were mixed. Japan’s Nikkei 225 climbed 0.7 per cent, while South Korea’s Kospi retreated 0.7 per cent and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 also lost by that much.
