Thursday 18 / April / 2024
Shanghai: Hong Kong shares closed slightly down on Thursday as profit-taking outweighed solid gains by gaming and social media firm Tencent, after the company posted better-than-expected quarterly earnings.
The Hang Seng index fell 0.2 per cent, to 27,344.22 points. The China Enterprises Index also lost 0.2 per cent, to 10,801.42 points.
A pattern of market gains propelled by strong corporate earnings followed by gradual corrections will likely continue for the next one or two weeks, said Steven Leung, director at UOB-Kay Hian Holdings in Hong Kong.
Most companies have reported good earnings, but these are "more or less reflected in their share price already," he said. "So it's not easy for the overall market to move (up) much more."
Tencent Holdings Ltd far surpassed expectations of a 50-per cent rise in quarterly earnings, announcing on Wednesday that its second quarter revenues jumped 70.2 per cent from a year earlier.
Its shares rose as much as 5.5 per cent on Thursday to an all-time high of HK$341.00 before cooling and ending 1.9 percent above Wednesday's close.
China Construction Bank Corp, due to release second-quarter earnings on Aug. 31, fell 0.6 per cent after rallying 2.2 percent a day earlier.
Cathay Pacific gained 0.9 per cent in spite of reporting a net loss of HK$2.05 billion ($262 million) for January-June, its worst first-half result in at least two decades. Analysts said they believe losses have bottomed out.
The index measuring price differences between dual-listed companies in Shanghai and Hong Kong stood at 128.25.
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.
