SHANGHAI: China stocks skidded on Wednesday over worries about tough liquidity and a new fall in oil value, but Hong Kong managed to eke out increases as telecommunications counters clambered.
The CSI300 index fell 0.8 percent to 3,545.11 points by the end of the morning session, while the Shanghai Composite Index slid a similar amount to 3,324.96.
“Cyclical factors in the lead up to the Lunar New Year, including required regulatory payments and moves in fiscal deposits, are putting pressure on the short-term money supply in the market,” said Pan Shaochang, an analyst at Dongguan Securities.
“The expectation of new IPOs and restrictions on margin trading have also reduced net liquidity in the market.”
The energy sub-index slumped 1.5 percent and the financial and real estate sub-indexes were both down 1.2 percent.
China CSI300 stock index futures for February fell 0.8 percent, to 3,555.2, 10.09 points above the current value of the underlying index.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index rose 0.3 percent to 24,889.02 points, buoyed by telecommunications, with industry heavyweight China Mobile rising 1.8 percent.
The Hong Kong China Enterprises Index gained 0.1 percent, to 12,047.31.
The index measuring price differences between dual-listed companies in Shanghai and Hong Kong stood at 127.33.
A value above 100 indicates Shanghai shares are pricing at a premium to shares in the same company trading in Hong Kong, and vice versa.
The total volume of A shares traded in Shanghai was 15.79 billion shares, while Shenzhen volume was 9.14 billion shares.
