The Hang Seng Index opened higher by 189 points today (16th), rose to a high of 369 points during the day, and closed at 19,376 points, up 302 points (1.6%), with a trading volume of 204.9 billion. The China Enterprises Index rose by 1.9% and the Technology Index rose by 0.8%.
Tencent (00700) rose by 4.0%, Alibaba (09988) fell by 3.9%, Meituan (03690) rose by 3.0%, JD.com (09618) rose by 2.5%, HKEX (00388) rose by 2.7%, and HSBC Holdings (00005) rose by 1.7%. The best and worst performing blue-chip stocks were Country Garden Holdings (00960) up by 10.9% and Xiaomi Corporation (00669) down by 5.4%.
In terms of industry performance, property stocks outperformed today, with New World Development (00016) rising by 2.3%, China Resources Land (01109) rising by 3.6%, and CIFI Holdings Group (00688) rising by 4.6%.
According to local media reports, NIO Inc. (02015, down by 3.0%) laid off more than 18% of its employees after the May Day holiday, including reducing over 400 people from the sales and service operations department, while the autonomous driving team was reduced to below 1,000 people.
ZTO Express (02057, up by 8.7%) recorded a net profit attributable to shareholders of 1.426 billion yuan in the first quarter, a year-on-year decrease of 14.63%, with earnings per share of 1.77 yuan.
HSBC Holdings (00005, up by 1.7%) announced at the end of last month that Noel Quinn will step down as Group Chief Executive Officer. According to Bloomberg, HSBC is inclined to find an internal candidate to replace him for the position.
Hong Kong furniture manufacturer Man Wah Holdings (01999, up by 9.5%) announced that as of the end of March 2024, the annual net profit attributable to shareholders was 2.302 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 20.2%. Basic earnings per share were 59.09 cents, with a final dividend of 15 cents.
Natixis stated that amid structural economic slowdown in China and geopolitical tensions, consumer disposable income growth is slowing, consumer spending is decreasing, income expectations are weakening, and consumers are increasing savings. Due to the structural slowdown, China’s luxury goods market may face stagnation.
At the time of writing, Brent crude oil rose by 0.2% to $83.4 per barrel, with individual developments from the “Big Three” oil companies: PetroChina (00857) down by 0.9%, CNOOC (00883) down by 1.1%, and Sinopec (00386) up by 1.2%.