HSI Eases On Sluggish US Stimulus, Brexit Talks

Shares in Hong Kong and the region followed the lead of Wall Street and finished Thursday on a negative note, as investors traded cautiously after US lawmakers failed to agree on an economic aid package and a deadlock in Brexit trade talks.

Locally, the Hang Sang index dropped as many as 215 points, but clawed back some of the losses to end the day 92 points, or 0.4 percent lower, at 26,410, on turnover of HK$110 billion.

Tencent tumbled 1.2 percent and Alibaba retreated more than 2 percent.

But Xiaomi edged up 0.4 percent while Meituan added 0.2 percent.

Mainland markets managed to recoup earlier losses, with the Shanghai Composite Index and the blue-chip CSI300 index ending flat, while the Shenzhen Composite index gained 0.1 percent.

Across the region, Japan’s Nikkei slipped 0.2 percent despite an 11 percent jump in heavyweight Softbank thanks to its stake in US food delivery app DoorDash after the US company’s listing. The Kospi in Seoul declined a third of a percent. Taiwan gave up almost 1 percent. Sydney shed 0.7 percent. Singapore inched down half a percent.