HK shares extend rally to start week

Shares rose in Hong Kong on Monday morning, extending their rally at the end of last week and following another strong lead from Wall Street and Europe. The Hang Seng Index added 0.37 percent to 28,131. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index was barely moved at 3,490, while the Shenzhen Composite Index on China’s second exchange […]

Next Digital halts share trading after freeze order

The Hong Kong stock exchange halted trading of Next Digital shares ahead of market opening on Monday after the Security Bureau moved to freeze assets belonging to its controlling shareholder, Jimmy Lai. The company said it requested the trading halt after the bureau announced the freeze following the close of trading on Friday. The freeze […]

FS expects unemployment rate to drop ‘signficantly’

Financial Secretary Paul Chan said on Sunday he was anticipating the upcoming unemployment rate to drop significantly as the economy improved. Hong Kong’s first quarter GDP rebounded by 7.9 percent – ending six consecutive quarters of contraction – while the jobless rate had dropped from the historic high of 7.2 percent to 6.8 percent. “It […]

Local shares snap three-day losing streak

The Hong Kong benchmark headed north on Friday to end three consecutive days of losses, while a rebound on Wall Street helped push most regional shares higher too. The Hang Seng Index opened higher, and survived a brief dip into negative territory, to finish 308 points, or 1.1 percent, higher at 28,027. Market turnover was […]

US stocks surge, undaunted by flat retail data

Wall Street equities posted a solid rebound on Friday, recovering some ground after big losses earlier in the week, despite lacklustre economic data including disappointing retail sales. While the major indices were still down for the week, good news on mask requirements offered more hope for the economic reopening and helped drive gains in travel […]

Alibaba posts quarterly operating loss

China’s top e-commerce platform Alibaba Group Holding Ltd on Thursday posted its first quarterly operating loss since going public in 2014. Its US-listed shares fell nearly 3 percent in choppy trading, even as the company forecast strong 2022 revenue, betting that the pandemic-driven shift to online shopping will remain resilient. The outlook, however, was overshadowed […]

HSI ends sharply lower as tech dumping returns

Local and regional shares plummeted on Thursday, taking their cue from Wall Street where forecast-beating US inflation data stoked jitters that the Federal Reserve will hike interest rates sooner than expected. The Hang Seng Index started more than 300 points lower and widened its losses towards the end of the day. It closed at its […]

Hong Kong Enters a New Phase of Open Banking

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) announced the implementation plan for the third and fourth phases of its Open API framework. The next steps in the framework are account information for phase 3 and transactions for phase 4. Following the implementation of the first 2 phases of the Open API framework in January and October […]

Hong Kong stocks rally on bargain hunting

Hong Kong stocks started slightly higher on bargain-buying on Friday morning, tracking a rebound on Wall Street following the previous day’s sharp declines fuelled by inflation fears. The Hang Seng Index rose 0.56 percent, or 154.02 points, to 27,872.69. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.19 percent, or 6.56 points, to 3,436.09, while the Shenzhen […]

US flags pro-active trade laws against China

The United States needs new trade law tools to head off anti-competitive threats from China against key American high-technology industries, rather than reacting once harm is done, US Trade Representative Katherine Tai said on Thursday. Tai told a US House Ways and Means Committee hearing that existing trade law tools are more aimed at protecting […]

Musk slams Bitcoin’s ‘insane’ power usage

Tesla boss Elon Musk on Thursday denounced the “insane” amount of energy used to produce bitcoin, doubling down on his sudden rejection of the cryptocurrency as a means of payment over environmental concerns. Musk, one of bitcoin’s most ardent backers, tweeted a graph of Bitcoin’s power consumption and said: “Energy usage trend over past few […]

US stocks bounce back from recent selloff

Wall Street ended sharply higher at the close of a broad rally on Thursday, bouncing back from three straight days of selling on upbeat labor market data. All three major US stock indexes notched solid gains, with the Nasdaq, weighed by Tesla, bringing up the rear. Meanwhile, cyclical shares enjoyed the biggest gains. Recent economic […]

Wholesale price data adds to US inflation jitters

Wholesale price inflation in the United States surged 6.2 percent in April compared to the same month in 2020, the highest on record, the Labor Department said on Thursday. The data follow Wednesday’s report showing a 4.2 percent spike in consumer prices over the past year, and adds pressure on President Joe Biden’s efforts to […]

HK shares make late climb on tech rebound

Local shares staged a late rally to book healthy gains on Wednesday, while regional shares remained weighed down by US inflation concerns and lofty tech valuations. The Hang Seng Index started the day higher but flipped between gains and losses throughout the morning session. But it clawed back from negative territory in the afternoon, with […]

Ping An Completes Initial Close of US$200 Million Fintech & Healthtech Venture Fund

Ping An Insurance announced the initial close of Ping An Voyager Partners, LP, a growth stage venture fund, having secured approximately US$200 million in commitments toward its planned US$475 million offering. Targeted at institutional investors, Voyager Partners will make investments in fintech, healthtech and related businesses around the world. Voyager Partners will be managed by […]

Hong Kong stocks drop as global retreat continues

Hong Kong stocks tumbled at the start of business on Thursday morning, in line with another steep drop across global markets, following a forecast-beating US inflation read that fuelled fears that interest rates will need to be hiked. The Hang Seng Index sank 1.1 percent to 27,920. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index shed 0.88 percent […]

Tesla stops accepting bitcoin payments

Tesla hit the brakes on Wednesday on letting people pay for electric cars with bitcoin, saying the computing-intense mining process of creating new cryptocurrency spews climate-harming emissions. “We are concerned about rapidly increasing use of fossil fuels for bitcoin mining and transactions, especially coal, which has the worst emissions of any fuel,” Tesla chief executive […]

US CPI number sends stock markets into reverse

Wall Street closed lower on Wednesday with the S&P suffering its biggest one-day percentage drop since February, as inflation data fueled concerns over whether interest rate hikes from the Fed could happen sooner than anticipated. All three major US stock indexes ended the session deep in negative territory in the wake of the Labor Department’s […]