Hong Kong stocks fell to near a three-week low on concerns corporate earnings will disappoint investors amid China’s slowdown and property market slump. Reports this week may show Chinese manufacturing contracted again in November. SenseTime slumped on a short-seller attack.
The Hang Seng Index dropped 1 per cent to 17,354.14 on Tuesday, the lowest since November 10. The Tech Index lost 0.8 per cent while the Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.2 per cent. The BSE50 Index of small-cap stocks in Beijing slumped by record 4.2 per cent amid measures to cool recent excessive price gains.
Alibaba Group tumbled 2.3 per cent to HK$74.35 while Meituan retreated 5.2 per cent to HK$103 and Tencent declined 1 per cent to HK$319.60. China’s top lender ICBC dropped 0.5 per cent to HK$3.76 while peer China Merchants Bank lost 3.3 per cent to HK$28.05 on speculation they will be called to lend more to troubled developers.
Weak economic data and…
