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Hong Kong stock market
MoneyStock Talk

Hong Kong stocks narrow losses as city will allow restaurants to serve in evenings, cinemas to reopen Friday

  • US, China officials spoke by phone Tuesday, reiterated commitment to trade deal
  • Alibaba advances, while Tencent slips

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Deb Price

Hong Kong finished with a small loss Tuesday after earlier declines narrowed when the government relaxed social distancing restrictions, allowing restaurants to serve until 9pm beginning Friday.

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Stocks perked up on the announcement after falling as much as 0.8 per cent. The Hang Seng benchmark finished with a 0.3 per cent loss at 25,486.22. That left it below 25,500 after it closed Monday above that level – at 25,551.58 – for the first time in five weeks.
“25,000 is the peak since the middle of July,” said Alan Li, portfolio manager at Atta Capital. “The market will likely struggle at a certain level for a few days.”

Information technology stocks were the top losers.

AAC Technologies tumbled 7.4 per cent on Monday’s disappointing second-quarter results and a downgrade by Citigroup to “sell”. It was the worst performer on the Hang Seng, followed by Sunny Optical, as Goldman Sachs cut the lens maker to “sell” from “buy”.

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The Shanghai Composite Index closed down 0.4 per cent at 3,372.58, snapping a two-session winning streak.

The ChiNext Index – operating under loosened rules that led one debuting stock on Monday to soar nearly 3,000 per cent – rose 0.6 per cent, extending gains for a third day.

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