Hong Kong stocks fall as protests, trade worries linger

Hong Kong stocks closed lower on Thursday, amid persistent worries over political protests and Sino-U.S. trade tensions. The Hang Seng index fell 0.8% to 26,048.72, while the China Enterprises Index lost 0.5% to 10,122.90.

Hong Kong banks published full-page newspaper ads calling for law and order in the Chinese-ruled city and international jewellers sought the rescheduling of a huge trade fair as weeks of pro-democracy protests showed no sign of letup on Thursday. Real estate and services companies, seen vulnerable to protests, led the losses for the day. The Hang Seng properties index dropped 1.9%, led by Henderson Land Development losing 3.1%.

Investors were also concerned by the developments on the trade war front. U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday said he was "the chosen one" to address trade imbalances with China, even as congressional researchers warned that his tariffs would reduce U.S. economic output by 0.3% in 2020.

China hopes the United States will stop its wrong tariff action, the commerce ministry said on Thursday, adding that any new tariffs would lead to escalation, despite delays in implementing the levies. Around the region, MSCI's Asia ex-Japan stock index was weaker by 0.44%, while Japan's Nikkei index closed up 0.05%.

The yuan was quoted at 7.0823 per U.S. dollar at 0814 GMT, 0.27% weaker than the previous close of 7.0633. At close, China's A-shares were trading at a premium of 29.72% over Hong Kong-listed H-shares.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)