Local Shares Head South In Heavy Trading

Hong Kong and mainland shares finished Wednesday lower while most regional markets were in positive territory on vaccine recovery hopes.

The local blue-chip index jumped more than 100 points at one stage but changed direction in the afternoon. It closed the day down 41 points or 0.15 percent at 28,235, on turnover of HK$202.1 billion.

Mainland oil firms led gains after tight supply pushed prices of the commodity to a one-year high. CNOOC was the day’s blue-chip winner, surging 5.5 percent. Sinopec climbed 5 percent. Petrochina gained 4.4 percent.

Lenovo soared 15 percent to a five-and-a-half-year high before giving back some of the gains to close 9.7 percent higher, on the PC maker’s announcement that it plans to list some of its stocks in Shanghai.

Across the border, the Shanghai Composite Index lost about 0.25 percent, while the blue-chip CSI300 index retreated a third of a percent. The Shenzhen Composite index slipped 1.1 percent.

Around the region, the Nikkei in Tokyo added 1 percent after logging a new 30-year high. Taiwan broke its previous peak on record and closed up more than 1.7 percent. In South Korea, the Kospi inched up 0.7 percent despite the country’s unemployment rate hitting its highest in nearly two decades last year. Singapore and Australia were in positive territory as well.