HK shares end lower as political turmoil in Italy dampens sentiment

SHANGHAI: Hong Kong stocks ended lower on Tuesday, led by financials, as risk appetite was curbed by market volatility in Europe, where fresh elections in Italy stirred fears of euro zone break-up.

The Hang Seng index ended 1 percent lower at 30,484.58, while the China Enterprises Index closed 1.3 percent lower at 11,959.08 points.

European shares slumped for a second session on Tuesday as investors took flight on renewed fears of euro zone break-up risk as Italy embarked on a new election campaign which could become a proxy referendum on euro membership.

The sub-index of the Hang Seng tracking energy shares dipped 1 percent, while the IT sector slipped 0.72 percent, the financial sector was 1.32 percent lower and property sector lost 0.72 percent.

The top gainer on Hang Seng was Want Want China Holdings Ltd up 4.71 percent, while the biggest loser was Country Garden Holdings Co Ltd, which ended down 2.76 percent.

Around the region, MSCI’s Asia ex-Japan stock index was weaker by 0.72 percent, while Japan’s Nikkei index closed down 0.55 percent.

The yuan was quoted at 6.4186 per U.S. dollar at 0823 GMT, 0.34 percent weaker than the previous close of 6.3969.

As of previous trading session, the Hang Seng index was up 2.92 percent this year, while China’s H-share index was up 3.5 percent. As of previous close, the Hang Seng slipped 0.05 percent this month.

The top gainers among H-shares were China Gas Holdings Ltd , which ended up 1.93 percent, followed by Huaneng Power International Inc, which closed 1.71 percent higher and China Shenhua Energy Co Ltd, which ended 1.26 percent higher.

The three biggest H-shares percentage decliners were CSPC Pharmaceutical Group Ltd, which closed down 4.99 percent, Postal Savings Bank of China Co Ltd, which ended 3.3 percent lower and Anhui Conch Cement Co Ltd, which ended 3.1 percent lower.

About 1.71 billion Hang Seng index shares were traded, roughly 104.3 percent of the market’s 30-day moving average of 1.64 billion shares a day. The volume traded in the previous trading session was 1.79 billion.

At close, China’s A-shares were trading at a premium of 20.59 percent over the Hong Kong-listed H-shares.

The price-to-earnings ratio of the Hang Seng index was 12.25 as of the last full trading day while the dividend yield was 3.1 percent.

So far this week, the market capitalisation of the Hang Seng index has risen by 0.47 percent to HK$19.94 trillion. - Reuters