HSI Finishes Lower On US Sanctions Report

Hong Kong shares finished the week on a losing note despite fresh records on Wall Street overnight.

Dealers said a report that the United States is planning to add more mainland firms to a trade blacklist weighed on markets in the region.

The local benchmark began the day soft, and the selling intensified in the afternoon on Friday.

The Hang Seng Index lost 300 points at one stage after Reuters reported that Washington is expected to expand its trade entity list with more Chinese companies.

The index clawed back some of the losses later to finish 179 points, or about two-thirds of a percent lower, at 26,498.

Turnover reached HK$166.5 billion.

Mainland chipmaker SMIC, which is reportedly going to be added to the US trade blacklist, sank 5 percent.

Meituan slipped 2.3 percent while Ping An Insurance retreated 2 percent.

But Chinese telco firms China Unicom and China Mobile each added more than 3 percent to become the top blue-chip gainers.

Across the border, the Shanghai Composite Index and the Shenzhen Composite each declined 0.3 percent, while the blue-chip CSI300 index gave up more than a third of a percent.

Elsewhere, Tokyo and Singapore each shed about 0.2 percent. Sydney dropped 1.2 percent. Taiwan inched down less than 0.1 percent, while the Kospi in Seoul ticked up marginally.