HSI Slips As Markets Look To Trade Talks Again

Hong Kong stocks ended lower on Tuesday as investors cautiously await the resumption of trade talks between China and the US later in the day.

The Hang Seng Index slipped 0.4 percent, to 28,228.

On the mainland, the Shanghai Composite Index edged up 0.1 percent, to 2,755, while the Shenzhen Composite Index added 0.2 percent, to 1,443.

Tokyo finished 0.1 percent higher, with the benchmark Nikkei 225 index closing at 21,302.

Sydney gained 0.3 percent, Singapore put on 0.2 percent and Taipei 0.2 percent, with Seoul and Wellington each off 0.2 percent. Manila fell while Mumbai and Jakarta were up.

On currency markets the pound was down, with uncertainty fanned by news that seven pro-remain MPs had split from Britain's opposition Labour Party over its handling of Brexit and a row over antisemitism.

The move "looks awfully like a bungled mess of the creation of a new party, which we think is more likely to be pound-negative... by giving Brexit a less effective opposition," said Peter Chatwell, head of European rates strategy at Mizuho International, told Bloomberg News.

He added that it left both main parties "with clear pro-Brexit mandates". (AFP)