Hang Seng index falls for 6th consecutive day amid trade tensions

Hong Kong shares ended lower on Tuesday as the Hang Seng index recorded its sixth consecutive day of loss, with concerns over slowing growth and the impact of an escalating Sino-U.S. trade war weighing on investor sentiment.

** At the close of trade, the Hang Seng index was 0.1 per cent lower at 26,172.91 points, while the China Enterprises Index gained 0.3 per cent to 10,420.62 points.

** The top gainer on Hang Seng was China Shenhua Energy Co Ltd, up 2.21 per cent, while the biggest loser was Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd, down 5.23 per cent after the Chinese carmaker posted slower growth in sales.

** Shares in index heavyweight Tencent Holdings Ltd ended 1.7 per cent lower amid a broader sell-off in technology shares.

** Tencent weighed on the IT sector, which dipped 1.19 per cent. The financial sector ended 0.13 per cent lower and property sector rose 0.68 per cent while the sub-index of the Hang Seng tracking energy shares rose 1.2 per cent.

** Around the region, MSCI's Asia ex-Japan stock index was weaker by 0.27 per cent, while Japan's Nikkei index closed down 1.32 per cent.

** The yuan was quoted at 6.924 per U.S. dollar at 08:23 GMT, 0.06 per cent firmer than the previous close of 6.9285.

** Traders in Hong Kong said state-owned banks were seen as moving to prop up the offshore yuan, swapping U.S. dollars for offshore yuan and driving up overnight borrowing costs 326 basis point to 5 per cent, the highest level since late May.

** The offshore yuan was trading at 6.9267 per dollar at 0826 GMT Tuesday.

** As of the previous trading session, the Hang Seng index was down 12.42 per cent this year while China's H-share index was down 11.2 per cent. The Hang Seng had declined 5.71 per cent this month as of its previous close.

** The top gainers among H-shares were China Huarong Asset Management Co Ltd, up 5.15 per cent, followed by Guangzhou Automobile Group Co Ltd, up 4.07 per cent and China Galaxy Securities Co Ltd, up by 2.85 per cent.

** The three biggest H-shares percentage decliners were Hengan International Group Company Ltd, down 3.19 per cent, China Vanke Co Ltd, down 2.1 per cent and Tencent Holdings Ltd, down by 1.7 per cent.

** About 1.80 billion Hang Seng index shares were traded, roughly 102.6 per cent of the market's 30-day moving average of 1.75 billion shares a day. The volume traded in the previous trading session was 2.37 billion.

** At the close, China's A-shares were trading at a premium of 22.56 per cent over the Hong Kong-listed H-shares.

** The price-to-earnings ratio of the Hang Seng index was 10.15 as of the last full trading day while the dividend yield was 3.6 per cent.

** So far this week, the market capitalisation of the Hang Seng index has fallen by 1.35 per cent to HK$17.10 trillion.

** The short and one-factor leveraged Hang Seng index, which is designed to replicate the payoff of a short or leveraged portfolio and is linked to the movements of the Hang Seng Index, was higher by 0.12 per cent on the day at 5,351.79 points.