HSI Underperforms On Lingering Covid Fears

Local stocks ended in negative territory on Wednesday, failing to hold on to its early gains, while most of its peers in the region tracked a strong finish on Wall Street spurred by hopes of more US economic stimulus and vaccine optimism.

The Hang Seng Index opened more than 100 points higher but profit-taking and coronavirus concerns stepped in.

The local benchmark see-sawed between gains and losses before wrapping up the day down 35 points or 0.1 percent, at 26,532.

Market turnover was at $181.7 billion.

Technology shares were under pressure. Xiaomi plunged almost 12 percent – the biggest intra-day loss since its listing in 2018 – as it returned from a morning trading halt, after the mainland smartphone maker disclosed it had raised US$4 billion from top-up placement and a convertible bond deal.

The company later recouped some of the losses but still lost 7 percent at close to become the worst performer on the benchmark.

Meituan slid 3.9 percent despite reporting forecast-beating third-quarter revenues. Heavyweight Tencent edged down 0.7 percent, while Alibaba fell 0.8 percent.

HSBC bucked the trend and jumped 3.7 percent to become the blue-chip winner.

Markets across the border were mixed, with gains in property shares offset by losses in healthcare firms. The Shanghai Composite index inched down less than 0.1 percent, while the blue-chip CSI300 index was flat. But the Shenzhen Composite gained 0.2 percent.

Around the region, Seoul’s Kospi rallied 1.6 percent to a record high, the Nikkei in Japan edged up slightly, Taiwan added 0.75 percent, and Sydney was flat after Australia announced a return to economic growth in the third quarter. But Singapore retreated 0.2 percent.