Hong Kong stocks waver near 7-week high on mixed corporate earnings signals while developers trim speculative rally

The Hang Seng Index slipped 0.3 per cent to 16,459.93 at 10.10am local time, failing to build on a 1.6 per cent rally on Wednesday. The Tech Index lost 0.4 per cent, while the Shanghai Composite Index advanced 0.4 per cent.

HSBC tumbled 1.9 per cent to HK$59.10 after its 2023 earnings missed market consensus, while China Merchants Bank fell 0.5 per cent to HK$31.30. Sun Hung Kai Properties declined 0.5 per cent to HK$74.75 and peer Henderson Land dropped 1.1 per cent to HK$21.65.

“While policy support may help consolidate the market bottoms in late January, weak business fundamentals and a lack of new capital indicate that a stock market recovery is not likely to unfold in a one-way direction,” Patrick Pan, China equity strategist at Daiwa Capital Markets, said in a note.

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The Hang Seng Index is still on course to record another weekly advance, having already risen 1 per cent since Friday. Beijing’s recent market measures, including “national team” buying, lending rate cut, liquidity injection, and measures to curb short-selling, have helped put a floor under an unprecedented four-year slump in Hong Kong.

Elsewhere, major Asian markets mostly traded higher after Nvidia fuelled overnight gains in US equities. The Nikkei 225 in Japan advanced 1.6 per cent and the Kospi Index in South Korea added 0.4 per cent, while the S&P ASX 200 in Australia was little changed.