Hong Kong stocks closed lower on Tuesday, weighed down by geopolitical concerns ahead of the first anniversary of the war in Ukraine and doubts about China’s economic recovery.
Mainland Chinese stocks closed higher, supported by property developers and metals stocks after China’s latest moves to revive the real estate sector.
The benchmark Hong Kong Hang Seng Index closed down 1.7% and the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index lost 2.0%.
China’s top-tier CSI300 index closed up 0.3%, while the Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.5%.
Other Asian stocks fell on the prospect that the US central bank should stay on its interest rate bullish path, with investors eyeing the minutes of the latest Federal Reserve meeting for more policy clues.
Top Chinese diplomat Wang Yi, who is due to visit Russia this week to mark the first anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine, on Monday called for talks and peace for the good of the world and Europe in particular.
Also, US President Joe Biden swept through central Kiev on an unannounced visit on Monday, pledging to stay with Ukraine for as long as necessary.
Across individual stocks and sectors, the Hong Kong-listed tech giants fell 3.6% leading the market decline.
The recent underperformance of Chinese equities appears to reflect skepticism about the likely strength of China’s recovery, analysts at Goldman Sachs said in a statement.
“Despite these signs of unease among investors, we continue to expect a robust recovery in the Chinese economy and further gains in markets in the coming months,” they said, adding that high-frequency data is recovering even faster than expected.
The Hang Seng Mainland Property Index rose 0.3%.
Source: Terra
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