21st November 2023 – (Hong Kong) Hong Kong stocks made a strong start, surpassing the 18,000 level, but encountered resistance in early trading. The Hang Seng Index opened with a gain of 154 points and reached a high of 279 points, peaking at 18,057 points. However, by midday, it had settled at 17,955 points, still up by 177 points or 1%. The H-share index closed the morning session at 6,167 points, up by 64 points or 1.06%. The technology index stood at 4,115 points, up by 37 points or 0.92%. The total turnover of the main board reached HK$58.7 billion.
Large technology and internet-related stocks showed individual developments. Alibaba and JD.com rose by 3.3%, while Meituan surged by 3.1%. Tencent gained 0.8%. On the other hand, NetEase declined by 0.7%. Ctrip, despite recording a 16-fold increase in earnings in the previous quarter and experiencing a 2.9% surge in stock price, softened during midday trading. Xiaomi Group, however, suffered a significant drop of nearly 3%, making it the worst-performing blue-chip stock.
Financial stocks remained stable, with China Ping An and China Life Insurance performing relatively well, rising by 1.5% and 1.4% respectively. China Merchants Bank increased by 0.6%, while Industrial and Commercial Bank of China rose by 0.5%. HSBC Holdings, AIA Group, and Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing gained 0.3%. China Construction Bank saw a modest increase of 0.2%.
Real estate stocks became another focal point in the market. It was rumoured that a whitelist of mainland Chinese property developers was being drafted for reference by financial institutions. Longfor Group, listed on the whitelist, surged by 7% during the morning session, making it the top-performing blue-chip stock. Other notable performers included China Resources Land, which rose by 4.6%, and Country Garden Services, which increased by 4.3% and China Overseas Land & Investment gained 3.8%.
New World Development and China Vanke, both included in the whitelist, experienced respective increases of 12.7% and 6.1%. Additionally, Country Garden Holdings became the first large-scale real estate company to complete the entire process of debt restructuring both domestically and internationally, leading to an 18.9% surge in its stock price during the morning session.
The U.S. inflation rate is milder than expected, leading to a cooling of market expectations for interest rate hikes. The recent positive performance of U.S. stocks, combined with the strengthening of the renminbi exchange rate, is beneficial to Hong Kong stocks. The short-term rebound of the Hang Seng Index is expected to continue, with a possible retest of the 18,000 level. However, the resistance at 19,000 points remains significant, and short-term fluctuations within this range are anticipated.
