Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index Falls on First Trading Day of New Year
Dou Shicong
DATE:  Jan 02 2019
/ SOURCE:  yicai

(Yicai Global) Jan. 2 -- The Hong Kong stock market has performed badly on the first trading day of the year with blue-chip stocks leading the rout. The Hang Seng Index was down 2.78 percent at 25,127 as of 2.00 p.m. after falling 13.7 percent over the course of last year.

The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index, which includes Chinese firms that are listed in Hong Kong, dropped 3.11 percent.

The country's three state-owned energy giants all fell significantly. PetroChina [HK:0857] slid 5.74 percent to HKD4.6 (USD0.59) per share, while China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation [HK:0386] and China National Offshore Oil Corporation [HK:0883] fell 3.94 percent to HKD5.37 and 7.27 percent to HKD11.22, respectively.

Players in the financial sector also took a hit. China Construction Bank [HK:0939] fell 3.1 percent to HKD6.26, Industrial And Commercial Bank Of China [HK:1398] slid 2.86 percent to HKD5.43 and China Pacific Insurance [HK:2601] dropped 3.16 percent to HKD24.55. 

China's National Bureau of Statistics released the Purchasing Managers' Index of December on Dec. 30th, with a decline of 0.6 points to 49.4 compared with November. This marks the first reading below the 50-point threshold since July 2016. 

Editor: William Clegg

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Keywords:   Hong Hong,Hang Seng Index,PMI