FX.co ★ Hong Kong Stocks Slip to Start the Week

In early trading on Monday, Hong Kong's stocks experienced a decline of 0.8%, dropping to 23,260 points. This marks a continued downturn for the second consecutive session, primarily driven by widespread decreases across various sectors. Investor confidence remains shaken due to the anticipation of reciprocal tariffs from the United States, scheduled for implementation on Wednesday. Although Chinese manufacturing data presented an optimistic note—with the Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) indicating factory activity at a peak for the year and service growth at a three-month high—this failed to provide much-needed support to the market. In corporate developments, CK Hutchison saw a nearly 3% decrease in its stock value following criticism from Chinese state media regarding its sale of a port near the Panama Canal to BlackRock’s consortium. Additionally, significant declines were noted in companies such as Lenovo, which fell by 2.2%, Xiaomi with a 2% drop, Tencent Holdings losing 1.6%, and Meituan down by 1.5%. Conversely, PetroChina experienced a surge of nearly 3% as it reported record profit levels from the previous year. China Construction Bank and Citic also demonstrated resilience, both achieving substantial gains of 4.3% and 4.1% respectively.