The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index lost 0.9 per cent to close at its lowest since March 2014.
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Chinese stocks crashed on Monday, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index down 8.45 percent to close at 3,211.2 points.
Today the Shanghai Composite closed down 245 points, or more than 7.6 percent, while Tokyo’s Nikkei fell 734, or almost 4 percent.
Nearly all individual shares in the Stoxx 600 were up, and there was a 9.5 percent boost for Swiss pesticide firm Syngenta as news broke that Monsanto was back with an improved offer. However, it has repeatedly made mistakes in intervening, such as ordering the “national team” to help arrest the market slide. Waning trust in the Chinese economy is driving investors away from Hong Kong, while China’s devaluation is making the city less attractive for mainland tourists enticed by cheaper destinations like Japan.
Chinese and Hong Kong shares plunged in opening deals on Monday, extending losses amid a global sell-off despite Beijing authorising the state pension fund to buy stocks, in its latest attempt to shore up prices, reports BSS. The gauge’s relative strength index declined to 15.4, the lowest since the aftermath of the October 1987 stock market crash.
The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) said qualified financial institutions from Hong Kong and Macau will be allowed to establish one fully licensed securities house in Shanghai, Shenzhen and throughout Guangdong province, according to an announcement posted on the regulator’s website. The Commerce & Industry sub-index rose the most at 1.03%, followed by the Properties at 0.76% and the Finance at 0.56%, while the Utilities dropped 0.25%. “Selling pressure around global markets is also weighing on local sentiment”.
Three of the four sub-indices lost ground.
Yuan positions at the central bank and financial institutions fell by the most on record last month, a sign capital outflows have picked up. Margin traders reduced holdings of shares purchased with borrowed money for a fourth day on August. 21.
However, analysts said this short-term injection of funds was not particularly reassuring to investors, who had been hoping for further long-term policy easing – such as a cut in reserve requirement ratios to encourage bank lending – as a signal that the government remained committed to propping up the markets.
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But the turnover in the Hong Kong bourse totaled 138.97 billion HK dollars ($17.93 bn), up from 118.28 billion HK dollars the previous trading day, Xinhua news agency reported. China’s surprise move to devalue its yuan two weeks ago-which would make its exports more competitive-and a string of weak economic data has tipped off worries that the world’s No. 2 economy may be slowing faster than expected. “But it is questionable whether even with one the market would have rebounded”.
