Hong Kong shares dip ahead of Chinese New Year as holiday caution

Hong Kong stocks edged lower on the final trading day of the Chinese New Year of the Snake, as cautious positioning around the long holiday and the absence of southbound flows kept turnover thin.

The benchmark Hang Seng Index closed down 65 points, or 0.25 percent, at 26,501, while the Hang Seng Tech Index fell 0.19 percent to 5,350.

China’s market regulator last Friday issued new anti-monopoly compliance guidelines for internet platforms and summoned leading companies, including Alibaba (9988), Tencent (0700), Baidu (9888), JD.com (9618) and Meituan (3690). Meituan (3690) also issued a profit warning, forecasting a substantial loss for last year.

Technology shares were broadly weaker. Alibaba fell 1.8 percent, Tencent slipped 0.4 percent and Meituan declined 0.6 percent. JD.com dropped 0.8 percent, Xiaomi (1810) was flat, while Baidu lost 1.5 percent.

Meanwhile, Contemporary Amperex Technology (3750), Laopu Gold (6181) and CMOC Group (3993) were added to the Hang Seng Index, with their shares rising 1.3 percent, 0.2 percent and 1.4 percent respectively.

At the same time, Zhongsheng Group (0881) was removed from the index, with its shares ending flat.