Hong Kong, Shanghai stocks open lower
“China shares were up for the third day on the trot, a running streak unseen for a month thanks to optimism surrounding President Xi’s state visit to the USA”, said Mike Van Dulken, analysts at Accendo Markets.
China and Hong Kong stocks fell on Wednesday morning, hit by weakness in global markets and a survey of China factory activity that deepened fears of a sharp economic slowdown.
Concerns that auto giant Volkswagen could face a massive fine for cheating on emissions tests contributed the sell-off by European stocks. USA 10- year Treasury futures climbed.
Across the pond, the pan-European STOXX 600 (^STOXX) finished the day significantly lower, down 3.1 percent as autos tanked and weaker oil prices weighing on investor sentiment.
Chinese President Xi Jinping added his voice on Tuesday to officials trying to reassure the world that the government was still firmly committed to financial reform following criticism of its intervention to steady rocky markets and boost growth. Total trading volume of companies included in the HSI index was 1.5 billion shares.
The Shenzhen Composite Index, which tracks stocks on China’s second exchange, lost 1.26%, or 21.16 points, to 1,657.94.
CITIC Securities tumbled 4 percent.
However, in China the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.67 percent, or 20.89 points, to 3,118.81. Bank of China retreated 2.87 percent to close at 3.39 HK dollars. “We’re not seeing the 4 or 5 percent falls that you might expect if this was a surprise for the market”. Energy producers like Santos (: ) shaved off 1.2 percent. India’s Sensex was tumbling 1.8 percent in volatile trading, with heavyweight banking and metal stocks coming under selling pressure. 25 percent to close at 5.58 HK dollars. The Australian dollar slumped 0.8 per cent to 70.32 USA cents.
“The Fed’s policy action or inaction is creating quite a bit of confusion in the market”, Bernard Aw, a strategist at IG Asia Pte in Singapore, said by phone.
South Korea’s Kospi index dived to a one-week low.
The Straits Times Index was down 1.15 per cent at 2,835.55 as of 11:48 am.
Also bucking the downtrend was stationery maker Monami, which surged almost 30 percent.