HK Shares Fall On Fresh Concerns Over Sino-US Ties

Local shares finished lower on Monday after reports said Washington was planning to introduce more sanctions on mainland and Hong Kong officials.

The Hang Seng Index followed the lead of Wall Street and began the day higher. But it soon reversed course as jitters over Sino-US tensions took hold.

The blue-chip index tumbled more than 550 points before recovering some of the losses to close the day 329 points or 1.2 percent lower at 26,506, on turnover of HK$135.3 billion.

Three companies newly added to the blue-chip index all had a bad day. Anta Sports sank more than 3 percent, Meituan lost 2.1 percent and Budweiser gave up 0.7 percent.

CNOOC, which was recently blacklisted by Washington, slid 3.1 percent to become the biggest blue-chip loser of the day.

And despite the mainland’s strong exports data, markets across the border also lost ground over fresh Sino-US tensions.

The Shanghai Composite index and the blue-chip CSI300 index each retreated more than 0.8 percent. The Shenzhen Composite index edged down 0.3 percent.

Shares elsewhere in the region were mixed. The Kospi in Seoul added half a percent, as tech firms drove the South Korean benchmark index to end at a new high for a fifth consecutive trading day. Taiwan also finished at a new high after putting on 0.9 percent. Sydney gained 0.6 percent.

But Japan’s Nikkei gave up 0.8 percent. Singapore was also lower.