FX.co ★ Hong Kong Market Pulls Back After Two Sessions of Gains

Hong Kong's stock market saw a 273-point drop, or 1.0%, settling at 25,826 in early trades on Wednesday. This decline reversed the gains made over the previous two sessions, as widespread losses occurred across various sectors. Market participants were on edge due to upcoming critical policy events in China, such as the annual Central Economic Work Conference and the December Politburo meeting. Sentiment was further strained by recent private survey data indicating that China's services sector experienced its slowest growth in five months during November. This signals a slowing economic momentum despite Beijing's initiatives to stimulate growth. Additionally, continuous declines in mainland markets reinforced the negative sentiment. However, the losses were partially mitigated by an uptick in U.S. futures, driven by growing optimism that the Federal Reserve might lower interest rates in their final meeting of the year next week. In contrast, Hong Kong saw robust retail sales growth in October, thanks to steady tourism. Among the significant decliners were XPeng, falling 3.9%, PICC Property & Casualty, down 2.8%, Henderson Land Development, which decreased by 2.1%, and Tencent Holdings, with a 1.1% drop.