Hong Kong stocks retreat amid trade concerns before key Beijing policy conference
Stocks retreated from a three-week high as a new round of tech curbs suggests more troubles ahead in US-China trade
The Hang Seng Index dropped 0.9 per cent to 19,560.44 at the close of trading on Thursday. The Tech Index slid 0.8 per cent. Onshore stock benchmarks were mixed. The CSI 300 Index lost 0.2 per cent while the Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.1 per cent.
E-commerce group Alibaba Group weakened 2.4 per cent to HK$81.95 while EV maker BYD slipped 1.8 per cent to HK$255.80 and Meituan tumbled 3.6 per cent to HK$159.20. Chinese online travel operator Trip.com Group sank 3.3 per cent to HK$512 and hotpot chain restaurant operator Haidilao declined 3 per cent to HK$15.42.
President Xi Jinping and top policymakers will gather at the annual central economic work conference next week, which is expected to spell out the nation’s major development policies for 2025. The meeting may offer clues on how China will respond to possible new US tariffs.
China will ban the exports of critical minerals to the US, after Washington curbed shipments of advanced semiconductors to China. President-elect Donald Trump has pledged to imposed fresh tariffs on Chinese goods on his first day in office next month.
“Trump’s re-election, together with the recent tech curbs by the US, has weighed on risk appetite and liquidity,” said Wu Xinkun, an analyst at Haitong Securities. “The market is worried about a potential escalation of the China-US tensions, which will hold back China’s economic fundamentals.”
