HSI Heads South As Tech Shares Take Battering

Local stocks finished lower on Wednesday despite optimism towards a coronavirus vaccine

The index lost 74 points or 0.3 percent at 26,226 amid profit-taking.

Market turnover was a hefty HK$267 billion dollars, up from HK$233 billion the day before.

Mainland tech giant Alibaba fell almost 10 percent – suffering the biggest loss on the benchmark index – after Beijing published draft rules aimed at preventing monopolistic behaviour by internet platforms.

Other tech companies like Xiaomi and Tencent each tumbled more than 7 percent.

Cathay Pacific bucked the trend, rising over 1 percent after the SAR government announced that the airline will operate flights to Singapore from November 22 over a travel bubble arrangement.

Markets across the border ended lower, weighed down by losses in electric vehicle and healthcare shares over profit-taking.

The Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.5 percent while the blue-chip CSI-300 index eased about 1 percent.

Across the region, Tokyo jumped 1.8 percent to close at a fresh 29-year high thanks to hopes among investors over the prospect of an effective Covid-19 vaccine.

Seoul surged more than 1 percent to hit its highest since mid-2018, extending their rally for an eighth straight session.

Taipei earned over 1 percent as well.

To commodities, oil prices surged more than 1 percent after an industry report showed US crude oil inventories have fallen more than expected.