Asia report: Stocks mixed as Lee makes first policy speech in HK
Stock markets were mixed by the close of trading in Asia on Wednesday, after another strong session on Wall Street overnight, with Hong Kong leading the losses after a policy speech from the city’s chief executive.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 was up 0.37% at 27,257.38, as the yen weakened 0.14% against the dollar to last trade at JPY 149.47.
Automation specialist Fanuc was up 0.1%, fashion firm Fast Retailing added 1.13%, and technology conglomerate SoftBank Group jumped 3.72%.
The broader Topix index was ahead 0.19% by the end of the day in Tokyo, settling at 1,905.06.
On the mainland, the Shanghai Composite lost 1.19% to 3,044.38, and the technology-heavy Shenzhen Component was off 1.43% at 11,027.24.
South Korea’s Kospi was 0.56% weaker at 2,237.44, while the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong tumbled 2.38% to 16,511.28.
Hong Kong chief executive John Lee made his first policy speech on Wednesday, after taking office in July.
Lee said the city’s government would spend HKD 30bn (£3.39bn) in a bid to attract business to the special administrative region, and launch a talent pass scheme to “entice talents to pursue their careers in Hong Kong”.
Hong Kong has suffered the loss of thousands of residents since the start of Covid-19, in what local commentators have described as a brain-drain.
“Over the past two years, the local workforce shrank by about 140,000,” Lee said in his address.
“Apart from actively nurturing and retaining local talents, the government will proactively trawl the world for talents.”
Chinese technology and electric vehicle plays were in the red after Lee’s address, with Alibaba Group down 4.34%, Bilibili falling 7.24%, Meituan 6.17% weaker, Tencent Holdings off 4.09%, and Xpeng plunging 9.52%.
Macau gambling operators were also lower, with MGM China down 6.39% and Wynn Macau 7.32% weaker.
Seoul’s blue-chip technology stocks were in the red, with Samsung Electronics down 1.24% and SK Hynix losing 3.03%.
Korean internet and messaging service Kakao Corporation gained 0.81% after co-chief executive officer Namkoong Whon announced he would resign, after a fire at a data centre caused outages across the firm’s products over the weekend.
Oil prices were higher at the end of the Asian day, with Brent crude futures last up 0.73% on ICE at $90.69 per barrel, and the NYMEX quote for West Texas Intermediate ahead 1.12% at $83.75.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 was ahead 0.31% at 6,800.10, while across the Tasman Sea, New Zealand’s S&P/NZX 50 gained 0.64% to 10,916.65.
The down under dollars were in a mixed state against the greenback, with the Aussie last 0.04% weaker at AUD 1.5857, while the Kiwi strengthened 0.1% to NZD 1.7572.
Reporting by Josh White at Sharecast.com.