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“The persistent weakness may exert pressure on the Hong Kong and mainland China equity markets when investors return from the long weekend,” said Redmond Wong, a strategist at Saxo Markets in Hong Kong.
The December decline in sales of the nation’s top developers accelerated after the 30 per cent drop in November, according to data released by China Real Estate Information Corporation over the weekend. For the whole of 2023, sales dropped 17 per cent, it said.
The Hang Seng Index fell 14 per cent last year, making it the worst among major stock gauges globally. The four consecutive years of annual declines was the longest losing streak on record for the 82-member benchmark during which the index tracking Asia’s third-largest market has lost over 40 per cent. The entire market lost more than US$520 billion in value in 2023, according to Bloomberg data.
Elsewhere, Chinese search engine operator Baidu lost 0.6 per cent to HK$115.40 after saying that its US$3.6 billion bid for Joyy’s live-streaming business lapsed following a failure to win approval from the Chinese regulator by the December 31 deadline.
Other major Asian markets were mixed. South Korea’s Kospi retreated less than 0.1 per cent and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 added 0.5 per cent. Japan’s market is closed for a public holiday.
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