Hong Kong Grinds Higher, China Releases August Economic Data
4 Min. Read Time
Key News
Asian equities were mostly higher overnight while Mainland China was closed for the Mid-Autumn Festival. Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, and Malaysia were also closed.
It was a very quiet night, especially given the four market holidays outside of China’s Mid-Autumn Festival: Respect for the Aged Day (Japan), Mawlidal-Nabi (Indonesia), Malaysia Day, and Chuseok – Thanksgiving Day (South Korea). With Mainland China closed tomorrow and Hong Kong closed on Wednesday, I suspect many Hong Kong-based traders took the week off, as volumes fell -46% from Friday.
China’s August economic data release was largely lighter, i.e. lower than expected, leading to speculation that government stimulus will be increased. The stimulus optimism drove Hong Kong to a small gain even without the buying support of Mainland investors via Southbound Stock Connect.
Housing data showed no improvement, as Real Estate stocks underperformed today. Hong Kong’s most heavily traded stocks were Tencent, which gained +0.80%, buying back 2.67 million shares today, Meituan, which gained +2.85% on a bond upgrade by S&P, Alibaba, which fell -0.91% as ultra-short-term traders bet that the lack of Southbound flow today would weigh on the stock, Hong Kong Exchanges, which fell -1.25%, and biotech company Akeso, which gained +16.14%.
Kuiashou gained +4.59% on a broker upgrade while JD.com fell -0.86%, Trip.com gained +0.6%, NetEase fell -1.23%, and Baidu gained +0.67%.
Western media’s China headlines last week were very negative. Nonetheless, the Hong Kong market hung in there, which is a positive sign, in my opinion.
The Hang Seng and Hang Seng Tech indexes gained +0.31% and +0.51%, respectively, on volume that declined -46% from Friday, which is 46% of the 1-year average. 253 stocks advanced while 223 declined. Main Board short turnover fell -19.67% from Friday, which is 50% of the 1-year average, as 18% of turnover was short turnover (Hong Kong short turnover includes ETF short volume, which is driven by market makers’ ETF hedging). The value factor and large caps outperformed the growth factor and small caps. The top-performing sectors were Health Care, which gained +2%, Materials, which gained +1.92%, and Communication Services, which gained +0.77%. Meanwhile, Real Estate fell -2%, Consumer Staples fell -0.82%, and Technology fell -0.1%. The top-performing subsectors were food & beverage, materials, and healthcare equipment. Meanwhile, diversified financials and semiconductors were among the worst-performing. Southbound Stock Connect was closed.
Shanghai, Shenzhen and the STAR Board were closed overnight for the Mid-Autumn festival.
Last Night's Performance
| Country/Index | Ticker | 1-Day Change |
|---|---|---|
| China (Hong Kong) | HSI Index | 0.3% |
| Hang Seng Tech | HSTECH Index | 0.5% |
| Hong Kong Turnover | HKTurn Index | -46% |
| HK Short Sale Turnover | HKSST Index | -19.7% |
| Short Turnover as a % of HK Turnovr | N/A | 18.1% |
| Southbound Stock Connect Net Buy/Sell (US $ Millions) | N/A | 30.6 |
| China (Shanghai) | SHCOMP Index | -0.5% |
| China (Shenzhen) | SZCOMP Index | -1.1% |
| China (STAR Board) | Star50 Index | -0.6% |
| Mainland Turnover | .chturn Index | 0% |
| Nouthbound Stock Connect Net Buy/Sell (US $ Millions) | N/A | Not Available |
| Jing Daily China Global Luxury Index | CHINALUX Index | 0.1% |
| Japan | NKY Index | -0.7% |
| India | SENSEX Index | 0.1% |
| Indonesia | JCI Index | 0.2% |
| Malaysia | FBMKLCI Index | 0.8% |
| Pakistan | KSE100 Index | 0.2% |
| Philippines | PCOMP Index | 1.2% |
| South Korea | KOSPI Index | 0.1% |
| Taiwan | TWSE Index | 0.4% |
| Thailand | SET Index | 0.8% |
| Singapore | STI Index | 0.2% |
| Australia | AS51 Index | 0.3% |
| MSCI China All Shares Index | # of Stocks | Average 1-Day Change (%) |
|---|---|---|
| Hong Kong Listed | 154 | 0.46 |
| Communication Services | 9 | 0.77 |
| Consumer Discretionary | 29 | 0.36 |
| Consumer Staples | 13 | -0.82 |
| Energy | 7 | 0.28 |
| Financials | 24 | 0.27 |
| Health Care | 14 | 2 |
| Industrials | 18 | 0.46 |
| Information Technology | 11 | -0.1 |
| Materials | 11 | 1.92 |
| Real Estate | 6 | -2 |
| Utilities | 12 | 0.41 |
| China Listed | 487 | 0 |
| Communication Services | 13 | 0 |
| Consumer Discretionary | 41 | 0 |
| Consumer Staples | 32 | 0 |
| Energy | 17 | 0 |
| Financials | 68 | 0 |
| Health Care | 45 | 0 |
| Industrials | 74 | 0 |
| Information Technology | 93 | 0 |
| Materials | 80 | 0 |
| Real Estate | 7 | 0 |
| Utilities | 17 | 0 |
| US & Hong Kong Dually Listed | Ticker | 1-Day Change (%) |
|---|---|---|
| Tencent HK | 700 HK Equity | 0.8 |
| Alibaba HK | 9988 HK Equity | -0.9 |
| JD.com HK | 9618 HK Equity | -0.9 |
| NetEase HK | 9999 HK Equity | -1.2 |
| Yum China HK | 9987 HK Equity | 2.2 |
| Baozun HK | 9991 HK Equity | 0 |
| Baidu HK | 9888 HK Equity | 0.7 |
| Autohome HK | 2518 HK Equity | 0.7 |
| Bilibili HK | 9626 HK Equity | -4.8 |
| Trip.com HK | 9961 HK Equity | 0.6 |
| EDU HK | 9901 HK Equity | 2.6 |
| Xpeng HK | 9868 HK Equity | 2.8 |
| Weibo HK | 9898 HK Equity | 0 |
| Li Auto HK | 2015 HK Equity | 0.2 |
| Nio Auto HK | 9866 HK Equity | 3.7 |
| Zhihu HK | 2390 HK Equity | -1.7 |
| KE HK | 2423 HK Equity | 0.6 |
| Tencent Music Entertainment HK | 1698 HK Equity | 0.5 |
| Meituan HK | 3690 HK Equity | 2.8 |
| Shanghai and Shenzhen's Most Heavily Traded by Value | 1-Day Change (%) |
|---|---|
| AGRICULTURAL BANK OF CHINA-A | -0.9 |
| BOE TECHNOLOGY GROUP CO LT-A | -1.6 |
| IND & COMM BK OF CHINA-A | 0.4 |
| ZIJIN MINING GROUP CO LTD-A | 3.4 |
| LINGYI ITECH GUANGDONG CO -A | -1.1 |
| WINTIME ENERGY GROUP CO L-A | -0.9 |
| FOXCONN INDUSTRIAL INTERNE-A | 2.2 |
| CMOC GROUP LTD-A | -0.6 |
| TONGLING NONFERROUS METALS-A | 0.7 |
| BANK OF CHINA LTD-A | -1.1 |
Last Night's Exchange Rates, Prices, & Yields
Mainland China’s currency and bond markets were closed overnight.
