Shanghai stocks led the way into the red amid the growing fallout from President Donald Trump's move to block China's Huawei Technologies from buying vital American technology.
HONG KONG: Hong Kong shares closed weaker on Tuesday, tracking markets across Asia and Mainland China, as investors were haunted by trade anxiety and feared lack of progress during the Sino-U.S. negotiations at the G20 summit.
At the close of trade, the Hang Seng index was down 1.2% at 28,185.98 points. The Hang Seng China Enterprises index dropped 1.9%.
The sub-index of the Hang Seng tracking energy shares ended down 1%, while the IT sector closed 1.7% lower, the financial sector ended 1.5% weaker and the property sector closed down 0.3%.
A senior U.S. official late on Monday fanned worries that the United States and China will make little progress in talks to end their trade war this week, saying that U.S. President Donald Trump is "comfortable with any outcome" from his expected meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the upcoming Group of 20 summit in Japan.
Trump is scheduled to meet one-on-one with at least eight world leaders at the G20 summit in Osaka this week, including Xi and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Most Asian markets traded lower. Shanghai stocks closed down 0.9%, snapping a six-day streak of gains. MSCI's Asia ex-Japan stock index was weaker by 0.4, while Japan's Nikkei index also closed 0.4% weaker.
Chinese banks came under pressure after a media report claimed Shanghai Pudong Development Bank (SPDB) Co Ltd may lose access to the U.S. financial system after a U.S. judge found the bank in contempt for refusing to comply with subpoenas in a North Korea sanctions violation investigation.
Hong Kong-listed shares of China Merchants Bank closed down 7.7%, recouping some losses after the lender said it is not involved in any investigations related to possible violations of sanctions.
The top gainer on the Hang Seng was Wharf Real Estate Investment Company Ltd, which gained 1.4%, while the biggest loser was Bank of Communications Co Ltd, which ended down 3.7%.
About 1.91 billion Hang Seng index shares were traded. The volume traded in the previous trading session was 1.38 billion.
At close, China's A-shares were trading at a premium of 29.08% over Hong Kong-listed H-shares. - Reuters
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