Hong Kong shares end lower as China flags inflow risks

  • 3/2/2021
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* Hang Seng index -1.21%, H-shares -0.81% * HSI financial sector sub-index down 1.6% * Traders see no immediate impact from Hang Seng shake-up annoucement March 2 (Reuters) - Hong Kong shares ended lower on Tuesday after a senior Chinese regulatory official warned of the risks of asset bubbles in foreign markets, further denting investor sentiment after a recent bond market sell-off. ** At the close of trade, the Hang Seng index was down 356.71 points, or 1.21%, at 29,095.86. The Hang Seng China Enterprises index fell 0.81% to 11,361.35. ** The sub-index of the Hang Seng tracking energy shares dipped 2.3%, while the IT sector dipped 0.51%, the financial sector ended 1.62% lower and the property sector lost 0.38%. ** China’s top banking and insurance regulator expressed wariness of the risk of bubbles bursting in foreign markets, and said Beijing is studying effective measures to manage capital inflows to prevent domestic market turbulence. ** Traders said Hong Kong shares were not immediately impacted after Hang Seng Indexes Co. Ltd said it would shake up the city’s benchmark index, raising the number of Hang Seng constituents to as many as 80 by mid-2022. ** “It’s a good move by the HSI services to somewhat ‘modernise’ the index... (but) it’s impossible to say that it’s got any impact in terms of the performance of today’s market,” said Andy Maynard, head of equities at China Renaissance in Hong Kong. ** Goldman Sachs analysts said in a note that new index additions tend to perform well one month before inclusion. ** “This indicates that the index inclusion announcements could be taken positively and the market tends to react before actual buying materializes,” they said. ** China’s main Shanghai Composite index closed down 1.21% at 3,508.59 points, while the blue-chip CSI300 index ended down 1.28%. ** The yuan was quoted at 6.4741 per U.S. dollar at 0808 GMT, 0.11% weaker than the previous close of 6.4673. (Reporting by Andrew Galbraith; Editing by Ramakrishnan M.)

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