HSI Ends In The Red On Profit-taking

Local shares headed south on Wednesday, while their peers in the region finished mixed, as investors booked profit and waited for the next trading catalyst – the release of US jobs data later in the week.

The Hang Seng Index started slightly lower and fell further to stay in negative territory throughout the day.

It closed down 170 points, or 0.6 percent, at 29,297, on turnover of HK$150.2 billion.

The biggest blue-chip losers were Wuxi Biologics, Techtronic Industries and Mengniu Dairy. They each slid more than three percent.

But Geely Auto bucked the trend, rising for a third day and soaring six percent to become the winner on the benchmark.

Shares of Next Digital doubled during early trading before paring the gains, a day after the company said in a stock exchange filing that its founder, Jimmy Lai, has been barred by national security officials from exercising his voting rights.

Authorities have frozen Lai's assets as the Apple Daily owner remains in custody awaiting trial over national security charges. Next Digital ended the day up 67 percent.

Shares across the border also closed on a negative note.

The Shanghai Composite Index shed 0.8 percent, while the blue-chip CSI300 index slipped one percent. Shenzhen gave up 1.2 percent.

Around the region, the Nikkei in Tokyo put on 0.5 percent on bargain-hunting. Seoul's Kospi was fractionally higher.

Australia jumped one percent, after the country reported a forecast-beating 1.8 percent expansion for its economy in the first quarter.

Taiwan was flat, and Singapore declined about one percent.