Dampened trade talk optimism weighs down on HK stocks

Hong Kong stocks declined 1.4 percent on Thursday, amid waning optimism for the US-China trade agreement.

US President Donald Trump said the country will place 55 percent tariffs on Chinese goods and will be supplied with rare-earth elements. China, in return, agreed to impose a 10 percent duty on shipments from the United States while Chinese students will be allowed to study in America once again, Trump posted on social media.

But Beijing has made no direct response to the claims so far and reportedly put a six-month limit on its ease of rare-earth export licenses for US automakers and manufacturers.

The benchmark Hang Seng Index ended Thursday at 24,035 points, 1.36 percent or 331 points lower than its previous close, with a full-day trading volume of HK$244 billion.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index also lost 0.6 percent after a four-day winning streak while the Taiwan Stock Exchange Capitalization Weighted Stock Index closed 0.8 percent lower.

In mainland markets, the Shanghai Composite Index saw gains weaken to less than a point and ended at 3,402 while the Shenzhen Component Index swung to a fall and closed 0.11 percent lower at 10,234.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Tech Index saw its fall widen to 2.2 percent while the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index dropped by 1.53 percent.

China Rare Earth (0769) once plunged 16 percent on the reported six-month export limit, before narrowing the fall to 13 percent.

China’s state-owned nuclear power firms, CNNC International (2302) and CGN Power (1816), jumped as high as 6.9 and 2 percent respectively, after the World Bank agreed to end its ban on nuclear energy projects.

STAFF REPORTER