Hong Kong Stocks Decline as Civil Unrest Escalates

HONG KONG, H.K. – Hong Kong stocks lead losses mid-afternoon on Wednesday as the ongoing protests and violence escalates and weighed on the sentiments of a lot of investors.

The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong led the losses in the country as it declines to about 1.76% by Wednesday afternoon with the life insurance firm AIR goes to a plunging 3.48% decline.

The dramatic loss came after the ongoing political upheaval in Hong Kong, which even escalated early this week, Carrie Lam, Hong Kong leader, said on Tuesday that protesters are paralyzing Hong Kong. She even went to call them selfish. The protest s in Hong Kong have been going on for about six months now and took an even more violent turn on Monday.

Kong Wing-Cheung, Hong Kong’s senior superintendent, also told reporters that the society of the city had been driven to the point of total breakdown during an interview on Tuesday.

On the other hand, a strategist commented that despite the ongoing upheaval in Hong Kong, some of the great Chinese companies are listed in the country.

According to a UOB Bank investment strategist, Francis Tan, on Wednesday, there are countless of mainland stocks enrolled in the Hong Kong exchange. He said that some of these stocks are deeply plugged into the story of domestic consumption.

While Hong Kong’s shares decline, some of the other major stock markets all over Asia mostly came out unscathed as investors still wait on the clarity of phase one of the US and China trade talks, especially the rollback on tariffs.

Stocks in mainland China, in particular, came out with mixed sentiments. The Shenzhen composite came out with a 0.107% increase, and the Shenzhen component is up by 0.21%. On the other hand, the Shanghai composite declined by 0.15%.

The Nikkei 225 of Japan also decreased by 0.93% during the afternoon, Topix index is also down by 0.57%, and the heavyweight Fast Retailing index shed 1.91%. Although Nissan automaker mostly recovered from a 4% dip it previously had, it still traded lower with 0.7% decline last trading session. The sentiment came mainly after the 70% year-on-year decrease in their operating income the company posted.

Korea shares also experienced a decline, with a 1.01% decrease in Kospi. The S&P/ASX 200 in Australia had the same fate last trading session as it bled out 0.64% in shares with the subindex falling to 1%.

With the conflicting sentiments in Asian shares last trading session, the index futures is expected to have the same up-down sentiments as trade talks continue.