A Hong Kong student activist was detained at the city’s airport yesterday morning, apparently on suspicion of involvement in a violent Chinese New Year (CNY) clash between police and protesters, said his group.
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The year of the monkey is off to an inauspicious start for Hong Kong stock investors.
The China-enterprises index fell 5 percent, its worst single-day performance since August 24, 2015 and was the top loser in Hong Kong as some investors preferred to execute their bearish China calls through the liquid Hong Kong market. Hong Kong’s stocks are set for their biggest daily drop in six months on Thursday, as worries about th…
Korea’s Kospi Index also suffered the same fate, falling more than 2% at the open.
Investors welcomed the latest signals from the Federal Reserve on interest rates, sending US stocks higher in midday trading Wednesday. Mainland financial markets remain closed for holidays until Monday.
Elsewhere in the region, South Korea’s Kospi was down 2.93% while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.95%, with the banking sector – which had taken a beating earlier in the week – leading a recovery from the index’s lowest level since July 2013.
“The general tone of other markets has been quite soft”, said Tony Hann, who helps oversee about $270 million as head of equities at Blackfriars Asset Management in London.
Hong Kong police and local media reports said 37 people were attending court in Kowloon, each facing one count of taking part in a riot, a rarely used charge that carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
In Europe, France’s CAC 40 slid 4 percent to 3,899.73, dragged down by a 13 percent drop in the shares of bank Societe Generale, which warned about its profits.
Yellen offered no major surprises in prepared remarks released before the start of her two-day Congressional testimony. The Standard & Poor’s 500 gained 15 points, or 0.8 percent, to 1,867. Materials stocks were the biggest decliners.
Stock markets in Japan, China and Taiwan were closed.
American depositary receipts of PetroChina Co., the nation’s largest oil producer, rose 2 percent to $57.57 at 1:54 p.m.in NY, reducing the losses this week to 3 percent. Britain’s FTSE 100 shed 1.6 percent. Oil fell below $27 a barrel in NY, compared with $31.72 a barrel at the close on February 4. Assurant fell the most. It also fell against the euro, which was up to $1.1339 from $1.1282.
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“Financial conditions in the United States have recently become less supportive of growth, with declines in broad measures of equity prices, higher borrowing rates for riskier borrowers, and a further appreciation of the dollar”, she told the House Financial Services Committee Wednesday. Copper, an industrial metal that will often rise and fall along with investor’s optimism about the global economy, fell 1 cent, or 0.6 per cent, to $2.03 a pound.
