HONG KONG: Hong Kong stocks pared gains after the city’s benchmark index briefly rose above 24,000 and mainland investors turned sellers for the first time in seven weeks. Financial companies fell, while higher crude boosted energy producers.
The Hang Seng Index added 0.4 percent at the close, after climbing as much as 1.6 percent. Bank of China Ltd. slid 1.1 percent, while Sands China Ltd. dropped for a third time this week. Net selling via an exchange link with Shanghai amounted to about 132 million yuan ($20 million), the first outflow from Hong Kong since Aug. 1, compared with purchases of 3.8 billion yuan Wednesday. China Shenhua Energy Co. and China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. rallied at least 1.7 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index added 0.5 percent at the close.
Hong Kong’s benchmark stock gauge has surged 14 percent this quarter, poised for its best gain since 2009, on bets global central banks will remain accommodative and as higher yields and lower valuations drew mainland investors to the city’s equities. The Hang Seng Index rallied earlier after the Federal Reserve left borrowing costs unchanged on Wednesday and scaled back the number of hikes they expect for next year and beyond.
“The market is using the Fed news to take profit as the pressure for a correction is building up after a decent rally,” said Wang Chen, a partner at Xufunds Investment Management Co. in Shanghai. “I would be cautious about buying Hong Kong stocks at this level and it may take a while for the market to consolidate around this range. That’s probably why southbound buying through the link is slowing now.”
