Hong Kong stocks decline after fresh trade concerns over Huawei dispute

Hong Kong shares fell on Tuesday amid growing investor concern that U.S. criminal charges against Chinese telecom giant Huawei would damage prospects for a Sino-U.S. trade deal.

The Hang Seng index settled 0.16 per cent lower at 27,531.68. The Hang Seng China Enterprises index fell 0.14 per cent to 10,867.42. The sub-index of the Hang Seng tracking energy shares dipped 1 per cent, while the IT sector rose 0.24 per cent, the financial sector ended 0.39 per cent lower and the property sector rose 0.53 per cent.

Investor sentiment, already shaken by pessimism over global growth, took another hit after the U.S. Justice Department unsealed indictments against China's top telecom equipment maker Huawei, accusing it of bank and wire fraud to evade Iran sanctions and conspiring to steal trade secrets from T-Mobile US Inc. The top gainer on the Hang Seng was Sino Biopharmaceutical Ltd, which rose 6.33 per cent, while the biggest loser was Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd, which fell 4.09 per cent. 

China's main Shanghai Composite index closed down 0.1 per cent at 2,594.25 points, while the blue-chip CSI300 index ended up 0.32 per cent. Around the region, MSCI's Asia ex-Japan stock index fell 0.28 per cent, while Japan's Nikkei index closed up 0.08 per cent. The yuan was quoted at 6.7358 per U.S. dollar at 08:21 GMT, 0.14 per cent firmer than the previous close of 6.745.

The top gainers among H-shares were CSPC Pharmaceutical Group Ltd, up 2.86 per cent, followed by China Railway Group Ltd, up 2.8 per cent and ZhongAn Online P & C Insurance Co Ltd, up 2.64 per cent. The three biggest H-shares percentage decliners were Great Wall Motor Co Ltd, which slipped 4.41 per cent, Guangzhou Automobile Group Co Ltd, which fell 3.3 per cent and CNOOC Ltd, down by 3.1 per cent.

(With inputs from agencies.)