HK, Mainland Shares Ease Over New US Ban

Hong Kong and mainland stocks retreated on Friday after the United States issued a ban on American investments in companies linked to China's military.

The Hang Seng Index dropped as many as 260 points during trading. It later pared the losses to close just 12 points lower at 26,156.

Market turnover was HK$151 billion.

Mainland telecom giants China Unicom and China Mobile each lost more than 5 percent after US President Donald Trump signed an order that will ban Americans from investing in Chinese firms that could help Beijing's military and security apparatus.

Telecoms, aerospace and construction firms are expected to be targeted under the prohibition list of 31 companies.

But tech shares continued to perform well, with heavyweight Tencent surging over 4 percent.

Markets across the border also closed the week in the red as the US ban further raised Sino-American tension.

The Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.8 percent and the blue-chip CSI300 index slipped over 1 percent.

Across the region, Japan ended its eight-day winning streak and lost about 0.5 percent.

But South Korea gained 0.7 percent, closing the week at a near two-year high. The rise in Kospi has been helped by sharp gains in market heavyweights like Samsung which surged 3.6 percent to a record high.

Taipei also reported gains, but Singapore was flat.