The Dow Jones surged over 800 points last night, but the Nasdaq fell slightly. Stocks in the Asia-Pacific region generally dropped today (5th), with Chinese and Hong Kong markets also closing lower. The Hang Seng Index opened down 67 points this morning, continued to weaken, and at one point during the day dropped by 325 points. It eventually closed at 24,961 points, down 291 points (or 1.2%), with a trading volume of 342.8 billion. The Shanghai Composite Index fell by 0.8% and the tech index dropped by 1.7%.
Tencent (00700) fell by 1.3%, Alibaba (09988) by 0.9%, Meituan (03690) rose by 1.7%, JD.com (09618) by 0.7%, Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (00388) dropped by 1.1%, and HSBC Holdings (00005) plummeted by 3.1%. The top and bottom performers among blue-chip stocks were Far East Consortium International (00316) rising by 6.0% and SMIC (00981) sliding by 7.2%.
The French financial prosecutor’s office announced on the 4th that HSBC Bank (00005, down 3.1%)’s Swiss subsidiary is suspected of assisting former Central Bank of Lebanon Governor Riad Salameh in money laundering and criminal conspiracy. It has been formally charged by French authorities, with the court requiring HSBC to pay an 80 million euro bond to cover potential fines in the future.
Tencent’s senior executive Tang Daosheng stated that the company is an organization with a wide range of products and tracks. He acknowledges that different business lines within the complex organization have varying speeds and successes as well as failures and explorations, and is open to criticism and advice from outside. Li Ke, Executive Vice President of BYD (01211, down 2.3%), revealed for the first time that the group is actively developing a humanoid robot project under the code name “Yao Shun Yu”.
Bloomberg reported that as mainland China and Hong Kong regulatory authorities tighten control over cross-border investment fund flows, some private banks have postponed activities in mainland China and restricted employees from traveling to mainland China.
As of the reporting time, Brent crude oil fell by 0.9% to $96.9 per barrel, with individual developments in the “big three” oil companies: PetroChina (00857) unchanged, CNOOC (00883) down by 1.8%, and Sinopec (00386) down by 1.4%.