Hong Kong stocks mirror Wall Street slide as gold and silver extend retreat
Traders weigh mixed signals from Donald Trump, who acknowledges potential meeting with Xi Jinping might not happen
The Hang Seng Index declined 0.9 per cent to 25,781.77 at the close of trading, erasing the 0.7 per cent gain recorded on Tuesday. The Hang Seng Tech Index fell 1.4 per cent. On the mainland, the CSI 300 Index lost 0.3 per cent and the Shanghai Composite Index dropped 0.1 per cent.
Online-game provider NetEase slumped 4.4 per cent to HK$229.60 while e-commerce firm Alibaba Group Holding dropped 1.9 per cent to HK$161.90 and search-engine giant Baidu retreated 2 per cent to HK$115.10. Gold miner Zijin Mining Group tumbled 1.7 per cent to HK$31.80, while jeweller Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Group lost 5.7 per cent to HK$15.69.
Limiting losses, blind-box toymaker Pop Mart International jumped 2.4 per cent to HK$256.40, after reporting a 250 per cent year-on-year revenue growth in the three months ending September. Pharmaceutical firm Sinopharm Group added 4.3 per cent to HK$19.52, and chipmaker SMIC advanced 1.1 per cent to HK$74.85.
That follows a retreat in the US overnight, as the S&P 500 Index halted a recent rally while the Nasdaq Composite Index lost 0.2 per cent. Gold traded near US$4,100 per ounce after dropping as much as 6.1 per cent from the high recorded on Monday, while silver lost 7.9 per cent to US$48.54 over the same period.