Hong Kong stocks sink to 14-month low

Stocks in Hong Kong fell to a 14-month low amid a lack of fresh stimulus while Shanghai stocks recouped some losses after Chinese authorities reportedly asked institutional investors not to sell shares.

Hong Kong's benchmark Hang Seng Index fell 350 points or 2.2 percent to 15,865 points, below the 16,000 mark for the first time in 14 months.

Turnover on the main board was a mere HK$84.4 billion.

In the mainland, the SSE Composite Index once fell to a new three-and-a-half-year low before recovering to edge 0.27 percent higher.

Earlier, a Financial Times report said that China's large institutional investors were told recently of not being the net sellers, the latest move by Beijing to stabilize the mainland stock market.

Though the HSI's tech gauge plunged 2.3 percent, China Mobile (0941) rose 0.61 percent to HK$66.15 after it launched its first share buyback in two years worth HK$48.36 million.

Yesterday, the Chinese telecom giant continued to repurchase 180,000 shares for HK$11.94 million.

Baidu (9888) rebounded as much as 4.3 percent as it once again denied that its ChatGPT-like Ernie Bot has no affiliation or partnership with key military research in China. The tech giant ended 0.2 percent higher at HK$100.7 apiece.

However, Sino Biopharmaceutical (1177) slid 3.5 percent after it said it would stop manufacturing Covid vaccines.

AIA (1299) dipped 3.5 percent despite revealing a repurchase plan.

The onshore yuan continued its losing streak, plunging 117 basis points to 7.1838 per US dollar yesterday.

In other news, China's foreign exchange balance increased for a fourth straight month by 69 billion yuan (HK$75.38 billion) to 22.05 trillion yuan as of last month, data from the People's Bank of China showed.