Hong Kong stocks end lower as healthcare, property shares weigh

Hong Kong shares closed lower on Tuesday, dragged down by healthcare and property stocks. The Hang Seng China Enterprises index shed 0.44% to close at 10,291.85. ** The sub-index of the Hang Seng tracking the healthcare sector declined 1.79%, while the property sector slid 1.09%.

Hong Kong shares closed lower on Tuesday, dragged down by healthcare and property stocks. ** The Hang Seng index ended down 65.36 points or 0.26% at 25,486.22. The Hang Seng China Enterprises index shed 0.44% to close at 10,291.85. ** The sub-index of the Hang Seng tracking the healthcare sector declined 1.79%, while the property sector slid 1.09%. ** Shares in Chinese property developer Country Garden extended losses to 2.3% after its H1 core profit dropped due to delays in construction following the pandemic. ** China's main Shanghai Composite index closed down 0.36% at 3,373.58, while the blue-chip CSI300 index ended up 0.13%. The tech-heavy ChiNext rose 0.63%, rallying for the second trading day. ** Markets in Hong Kong were less impacted by the news of the first documented instance of a re-infection of the novel coronavirus in a human. ** A Hong Kong man who recovered from COVID-19 was infected again four-and-a-half months later, researchers at the University of Hong Kong said on Monday. ** In the mainland, China reported its ninth consecutive day with no new locally transmitted COVID-19 cases. ** Around the region, MSCI's Asia ex-Japan stock index was firmer by 1.38%, while Japan's Nikkei index closed up 1.35%. ** The yuan was quoted at 6.9108 per U.S. dollar at 0759 GMT, 0.12% firmer than the previous close of 6.919.