Hong Kong Shares Down Ahead Of Trump Announcement

Hong Kong stocks finished the morning session on a negative note on Friday as investors nervously await a news conference by Donald Trump later in the day in which he is expected to outline the US response to China's security plans for the city.

The Hang Seng Index fell 0.7 percent, to 22,968.

On the mainland, the Shanghai Composite Index ended the morning session flat, at 2,846 while the Shenzhen Composite Index gained 0.6 percent, to 1,780.

Tokyo went into the break 0.3 percent lower. Sydney fell more than 1 percent, Seoul eased 0.4 percent, while Singapore, Wellington and Taipei slipped 0.2 percent each.

However, Manila and Jakarta edged up.

"All focus today will be on pre-positioning ahead of US President Trump's announcing new policies related to China in response to China's decision to move ahead with national security legislation for Hong Kong," said Stephen Innes at AxiCorp.

He said traders were eyeing losses of around 7 percent for US markets, the amount they fell during last year's standoff.

But he pointed out that there was a cycle last year when stocks would dive on bad headlines before bouncing to record highs.

"Once stocks were looking good, Trump would have the confidence to drop another headline bomb via new tariffs. Arguably with the S&P 500 above 3,000 they might look good again in the president’s eye." (AFP)

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