Tencent leads Hang Seng lower ahead of likely U.S. rate hike
Dec 12 (Reuters) - Hong Kong stocks dropped on Tuesday, as index heavyweight Tencent slumped over 3 percent, and declines in other technology shares also weighed on sentiment.
Investors are wary about higher borrowing costs ahead, with the U.S. Federal Reserve widely expected to raise interest rates this week. The Hong Kong dollar is pegged to the U.S. dollar and interest rates there tend to move in tandem with those in the United States.
** At close of trade, the Hang Seng index was down 171.41 points or 0.59 percent at 28,793.88. The Hang Seng China Enterprises index fell 1.04 percent to 11,312.57. **The sub-index of the Hang Seng tracking energy shares rose 1.3 percent while the IT sector slumped 2.75 percent, the financial sector was 0.41 percent lower and the property sector rose 0.16 percent. ** The top gainer on the Hang Seng was CNOOC Ltd up 3.4 percent, while the biggest loser was Sunny Optical Technology Group Co Ltd which was down 7.39 percent. ** China’s main Shanghai Composite index closed down 1.24 percent at 3,281.0104 points while its blue-chip CSI300 index ended down 1.32 percent. ** Around the region, MSCI’s Asia ex-Japan stock index was weaker by 0.33 percent while Japan’s Nikkei index closed down 0.32 percent . ** The yuan was quoted at 6.6216 per U.S. dollar at 08:12 GMT, 0.05 percent weaker than the previous close of 6.6185. ** So far this year, the Hang Seng index is up 31.66 percent, while China’s H-share index is up 21.7 percent. As of the previous close, the Hang Seng has declined 0.73 percent this month. ** The top gainers among H-shares were PetroChina Co Ltd up 1.17 percent, followed by Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd gaining 1.01 percent and China Petroleum & Chemical Corp up by percent. ** The three biggest H-share percentage decliners were New China Life Insurance Co Ltd which was down 3.33 percent, China Galaxy Securities Co Ltd which fell 3.1 percent and Anhui Conch Cement Co Ltd down by 3.1 percent. ** About 2.20 billion Hang Seng index shares were traded, roughly 110.2 percent of the market’s 30-day moving average of 2.00 billion shares a day. The volume traded in the previous trading session was 2.19 billion. ** At the close, China’s A-shares were trading at a premium of 30.90 percent over the Hong Kong-listed H-shares. ** The price-to-earnings ratio of the Hang Seng index was 13.21 as of the last full trading day while the dividend yield was 3 percent. ** So far this week, the market capitalisation of the Hang Seng index has risen by 1.22 percent to HK$19.01 trillion. ** The short and one-factor leveraged Hang Seng index, which is designed to replicate the payoff of a short or leveraged portfolio and is linked to the movements of the Hang Seng Index, was higher by 0.59 percent on the day at 5,129.22 points. (Reporting by the Shanghai Newsroom; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)