HSI Ends Week With Gains Despite US Blacklist Update

Local shares posted small gains at the end of Friday following volatile trading, after the US added more Hong Kong-listed firms to its blacklists, while markets elsewhere in the region were mixed as worries over the prospects for a global economic recovery returned.

The Hang Seng index opened lower but was led back up by a number of its heavyweights as well as mainland financials to gain more than 100 points, before dipping again to as much as 202 points. But it managed to claw back the losses and finished 77 points or about 0.3 percent higher, at 28,573.

Turnover reached a robust HK$254 billion.

For the week, the local benchmark rose nearly 2.5 percent.

The top blue-chip gainer for the day was AIA, which surged to a new record of HK$105.80 before ending 3.7 percent higher at HK$104.40.

Heavyweights Tecent and Alibaba continued to rally and were up more than two percent each.

Mainland financials also outperformed. Ping An Insurance soared 3.5 percent. ICBC jumped three percent. China Construction Bank advanced 1.8 percent.

The most heavily traded stock on the index was Xiaomi, which tumbled 10.3 percent after Washington added the mainland smartphone maker to a blacklist, a move that will force American investors to divest holdings of its shares.

Another firm called out by Washington, CNOOC, slid 1.1 percent, after the US said it had “repeatedly harassed and threatened offshore oil and gas exploration and extraction” in the South China Sea, with US groups now banned from selling their products to the mainland oil giant.

Markets across the border finished mixed as the country was gripped by a rise in domestic Covid cases. The Shanghai Composite Index was flat, but the blue-chip CSI300 index slid 0.2 percent. And the Shenzhen Composite index put on 0.3 percent.

Around the region, Japan’s Nikkei snapped a five-day winning streak to close 0.6 percent lower. The Kospi in Seoul slumped two percent. Taiwan gave up early gains after logging another record high and slipped 0.6 percent. Australia was flat, while Singapore edged up about 0.2 percent.