Shanghai (China), March 10. The Hong Kong Stock Exchange’s benchmark index, the Hang Seng, closed today with losses of 3.04% in a session marked by the decline in technology and financial stocks after the contagion of Wall Street and certain accounts of results that disappointed investors.
The closure and liquidation of the “crypto” bank Silvergate Bank and the stock market collapse of the bank specializing in start-ups Silicon Valley Bank, which lost more than 60% of its value after announcing a capital increase to try to solve its financial problems , caused a contagion effect on the world markets to which the parquet floor of Hong Kong did not escape today.
Specifically, the selective lost 605.82 points to 19,319.92, while the index that measures the behavior of mainland Chinese companies listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange, the Hang Seng China Enterprises, fell 3.06%.
All the sub-indices closed negatively: Trade and Industry (-3.34%), Finance (-2.82%), Real Estate (-2.46%) and Services (-1.62%).
The index that tracks tech stocks listed in the former British colony, the Hang Seng Tech Index, also fell sharply, losing 3.78%.
The Hang Seng had gained almost 15% between the end of 2022 and January, marking its best start to the year since 1984, but since the beginning of February it has fallen by 11.55% and its cumulative year to date. It can already be seen. a decrease of 4.1%.
“Investor expectations were high after China reopened, but we are currently seeing a weak economic recovery and disappointing results so far,” said Wang Zheng, chief investment officer of Jingxi Investment Management, as quoted by the report. China Morning Post.
The analyst assured that the market is becoming “cautious” on fears that the aforementioned rally in equities at the start of the year does not have a real basis.
DISAPPOINTING RESULTS
The biggest slump in the session was Chinese e-commerce giant Jingdong (JD.com), which fell 11.49% despite news that in 2022 it exited its losses and secured a net profit of around $1.5 trillion, which local La Presse attributes to a sharp drop in billing growth rate in the fourth quarter, down 7% from 23% in the same period a year earlier.
Media also point to the 4.62% fall insurer AIA suffered today after it revealed its after-tax operating profit fell 1% in 2022.
Other companies such as the state telephone operator China Unicom (-9.08%) or the automobile company BYD (-8.13%) also stood out for the negative part, as well as the two largest values in market price weight, the digital giants Tencent (-2.53%) and Alibaba (-3.96%).
Only 2 of the 76 stocks that make up the Hang Seng escaped losses today: pharmaceutical company Sino Biopharmaceutical (+0.24%) and electrical equipment maker Techtronic Industries (+0.65%).
The volume of business for the session was 166,470 million Hong Kong dollars (21,207 million dollars, 20,031 million euros).