HSI Ends In The Red, Yum China Falls On Debut

Hong Kong and stocks in China sank on Thursday as a morning rally ran out of steam, with investors worried about high valuations following the recent global sell-off.

The Hang Seng Index finished down 0.6 percent, to 24,313.

Yum China Holdings dropped as much as 6.3% on its market debut, bucking the recent trend of first day pops for local listings with global markets' volatility weighing on investor sentiment.

On the mainland, the Shanghai Composite Index dropped 0.6 percent, to close at 3,234 while the Shenzhen Composite Index tumbled 2.1 percent, to 2,129.

Other Asian markets were mixed. Japan's Nikkei rose 0.9% and Sydney was flat while Jakarta nosedived 5% on plans to re-introduce Covid-19 social restrictions in the Indonesian capital.

Mizuho Bank's head of economics and strategy in Singapore, Vishnu Varathan, said investors were grappling with whether this month's steep US tech selloff was really done, and beyond that an increasingly uncertain US political outlook and persistent Sino-US tensions. (AFP, Reuters)