FX.co ★ Hong Kong Shares Ease Ahead of Holiday

Hong Kong's stock market experienced a slight decline on Tuesday morning, settling at approximately 26,614, largely driven by downturns in the financial sector. This movement reversed nearly a 2% increase from the previous session as some traders chose to lock in gains before the holiday on Wednesday. In China, the National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival celebrations will lead to a market closure from October 1st to 8th, with trading resuming on October 9th. Key decliners included Sands China, down 3.2%, MGM China Holdings, off 3.1%, and China Unicom, which fell 1.9%. Despite these setbacks, the Hang Seng Index is poised to record its fifth month of gains, having risen about 6% so far, driven by optimism in artificial intelligence advancements, robust capital inflows, and expectations for new supportive measures from China ahead of the October plenum. In economic developments, the September PMI data indicated that a private survey of manufacturing exceeded the official figures, while the growth in the services sector remained positive, though it showed some signs of slowing. On the policy landscape, Beijing is gearing up to inject CNY 500 billion through policy-driven financial tools to accelerate investment projects.