Battered Tencent Weighs Down Hong Kong Market

Hong Kong stocks finished sharply lower on Friday, with market heavyweight Tencent battered by President Donald Trump's decision to ban Americans from doing business with the platform, clouding its outlook.

The Hang Seng Index fell 1.6 percent, to 24,531.

Tencent plunged as much as 10 percent in morning trade before paring losses and ending down 5 percent at HK$527.50.

"The US government is expected to follow up with more measures targeting Tencent," Steven Leung, at UOB Kay Hian (Hong Kong), said.

"Tencent's overseas expansion map now looks a bit uncertain, since some M&A deals, especially if its targets are based in the US, will face challenges."

On the mainland, the Shanghai Composite Index sank 1 percent, to 3,354 while the Shenzhen Composite Index dropped 1.4 percent, to 2,272.

"Apart from the obvious fallout to Tencent and ByteDance, Washington DC's moves are sure to ratchet up geopolitical tensions with Beijing once again," said Oanda's Jeffrey Halley.

The move rippled around Asian markets, with investors concerned about increasingly bitter relations between the economic titans that some fear could lead to a renewal of their painful trade war.

Tokyo finished 0.4 percent lower.

Wellington and Jakarta gave up 1 percent, while Sydney, Mumbai, Taipei, Singapore, Manila and Bangkok were also in the red. Seoul edged up, however. (AFP)