Hong Kong stocks fall on doubts over stimulus efforts against virus

Hong Kong stocks closed lower on Wednesday, tracking Asian markets that fell due to growing uncertainty over global policy efforts to arrest the economic loss from the coronavirus epidemic.

** The Hang Seng index fell 0.6% to 25,231.61, while the China Enterprises Index lost 0.8% to 10,070.47. ** Leading the retreat, the Hang Seng energy index and IT index dropped 3% and 1.6%, respectively.

** The White House and Congress negotiated measures on Tuesday to shield the U.S. economy against the epidemic's impact, although there was no immediate sign of a deal. ** For the short term, correction risk still exists given the relatively strong "momentum effect" from a continued fall in the market, brokerage GF Securities said in a report.

** However, a firmer yuan and strong southbound flows from mainland investors offered a measure of support to Hong Kong stocks, the brokerage added. ** On the day, mainland investors purchased a total of 6.5 billion yuan ($935.48 million) worth of Hong Kong stocks via the Stock Connect, as they hunted for bargains after the benchmark index hit a seven-month low on Monday amid a global selloff.

** China's main Shanghai Composite index closed down 0.94% at 2,968.52 points, while the blue-chip CSI300 index ended 1.33% lower. ** Around the region, MSCI's Asia ex-Japan stock index was weaker by 1.08%, while Japan's Nikkei index dropped 2.27%.

** The yuan was quoted at 6.9495 per U.S. dollar at 0833 GMT, 0.09% firmer than the previous close of 6.9558. ** At close, China's A-shares were trading at a premium of 29.83% over Hong Kong-listed H-shares. ($1 = 6.9483 Chinese yuan renminbi)