HK stocks open 133 points lower

The Hang Seng Index opened at 19,732 points this morning, down 133 points or 0.67 percent. 

Most tech stocks declined, with Tencent (700) dropping 1.55 percent, Alibaba (9988) losing 1.43 percent, Meituan (3690) falling 2.09 percent, and JD.com (9618) sliding 1.02 percent. However, Xiaomi (1810) edged up 0.17 percent.

Five Chinese-linked biotechnology firms won a reprieve Saturday when negotiators on a key defense bill decided not to include legislation blacklisting the companies from new federally funded research and contracts. WuXi AppTec (2359) and WuXi Biologics (2269) surged 11 percent and 13 percent, respectively, this morning.

The changes from the quarterly review of the Hang Seng Indexes, concluded in September, take effect today. 

The Hang Seng Index has added Kuaishou Technology (1024) and New Oriental Education & Technology (9901), which dropped 1.5 percent and 2.1 percent, respectively, while New World Development (0017) was removed, with its share price remaining flat.

The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index added PICC Property and Casualty (2328), which fell 1.1 percent, and removed Longfor (0960), which declined 1.2 percent. Meanwhile, the Hang Seng Tech Index included Midea (0300), up 0.42 percent, and excluded Weibo (9898), with its share price remaining flat.

Hong Kong Stock Connect also included Black Sesame International (2533) today, with the stock opening 1.4 percent lower.

(Bloomberg and staff reporter)