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Hang Seng Index advances as Anta Sports rallies while market awaits Fed decision on interest rates

  • Hang Seng Index snapped two days of losses as Anta Sports continued to rebound from a sell-off triggered by insider selling
  • Meituan slid on antitrust probe as TMT stocks ‘face a major headwind’, Xiaomi slumped as worsening pandemic undermines phone sale outlook in India

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A trader in South Korea watches market movements in June 2020. Markets await the Federal Reserve policy decision later today. Photo: dpa
Iris Ouyang
Hong Kong stocks rose as Anta Sports rallied on southbound fund buying. Losses in Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing (HKEX) and Meituan limited gains as investors waited for the Federal Reserve policy statement.
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The Hang Seng Index advanced 0.5 per cent to 29,071.34 at the close of Wednesday trading, halting a two-day decline. The Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.4 per cent to 3,441.10, after swinging between gains and losses for more than 10 times during the session.

Anta led the market higher with a 4 per cent surge to HK$141.70, the biggest jump in a month on signs funds were buying after a sell-off last week. Mainland investors spent HK$277 million picking up the stock on Monday and Tuesday, according to stock exchange data.
Elsewhere, trading was lacking direction as the Fed concludes its two-day FOMC meeting on Thursday. Hong Kong’s monetary authority runs its rate policy in lockstep with the Fed to preserve the city’s currency peg with the US dollar. Any change in US rates policy would be matched in Hong Kong, which would affect the local stock market.

“The market doesn’t have a [clear] direction,” said Willer Chen, analyst at Forsyth Barr Asia in Hong Kong. “In the short term, people are looking at the Federal Open Market Committee meeting, while individual stocks are driven by earnings.”

HKEX lost 0.3 per cent to HK$488.60 despite posting a 70 per cent surge in net profit of HK$3.84 billion (US$494.7 million) last quarter. The operator of the world’s third-largest capital market benefited from a boom in trading volume and a hectic flow of stock offerings. Despite its best-ever quarter, it fell short of market expectations for an 82 per cent gain.

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Xinjiang, China’s top cotton producer

Xinjiang, China’s top cotton producer

Anta Sports jumped 4 per cent to HK$141.70 as southbound capital flocked to buying it in the past two trading days. Mainland investors spent HK$216.1 million on Monday and HK$60 million in purchasing the stock.

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