Ant's IPO Woes, US Election Send Stocks Lower

Local stocks were on Wednesday weighed down by Ant Group’s suspended IPO and uncertainty over the US presidential election.

The Hang Seng Index seesawed between gains and losses as investors digested the abrupt scrapping of Ant's mega dual listing while closely following the tight US presidential race between Donald Trump and Joe Biden.

The index opened nearly 150 points lower but later recouped the losses. It then climbed more than 100 points before paring the gains.

The index finished the day 53 points or 0.2 percent lower at 24,886.

Turnover was HK$172.8 billion.

Ant's affiliate Alibaba was the biggest loser on the index, sliding 7.5 percent.

Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing tumbled 1.7 percent.

Xiaomi soared nearly 8 percent to become the top blue-chip gainer.

Ant’s listing trouble didn’t appear to bother investors across the border. The Shanghai Composite Index added 0.2 percent. Banking shares helped lift the blue-chip CSI-300 index up 0.7 precent. And the Shenzhen Composite Index edged up 0.3 percent.

Across the region, the Nikkei in Tokyo advanced 1.7 percent, while Seoul’s Kospi gained 0.6 percent. Taiwan jumped 1 percent. But Sydney closed marginally lower.

In currencies, riskier currencies fell with investors favouring the greenback as early results showed the US presidential election was very close.