Hong Kong stocks cap longest losing steak in a month as China property policies underwhelm
The Hang Seng Index has erased about a third of the more than 30 per cent gains made since mid-September
The Hang Seng Index closed 1 per cent lower at 20,079.10, giving up gains of as much as 2.5 per cent spurred by the city’s pledge to boost the appeal of the financial market. The benchmark has lost 5.5 per cent in four days. The Hang Seng Tech Index fell 1.2 per cent.
Mainland China’s benchmarks also fell, with the CSI 300 Index and the Shanghai Composite Index both retreating 1.1 per cent.
The briefing by Housing Minister Ni Hong on Thursday was the latest in a slew of such events held recently by China’s ministerial-level officials, after top leaders signalled an all-out shift to stem a slowdown in growth and stabilise the property market. Earlier, the central bank, the securities regulator, the planning body and the finance ministry laid out their latest stimulus measures to support the economy and the stock market.
“Few incremental policies on boosting home demand were announced, as the minister reiterated municipal governments’ autonomy to relax buying curbs,” said Jeff Zhang, an analyst at US research firm Morningstar. “We expect an acceleration in execution with more distressed developers receiving funds for home completions, which would help shore up homebuyers’ confidence.”
The most significant announcement from the briefing was that China would boost the credit support for property projects on a white list to more than 4 trillion yuan (US$561.5 billion) from 2.2 trillion yuan currently, he said.
The Hang Seng Index has erased about a third of the more than 30 per cent gains made since mid-September, as investors await further details on China’s fiscal stimulus after a finance ministry briefing failed to reveal specific spending over the weekend. Concerns have also emerged that the gains in stocks have been too fast and have overshot fundamentals.
