2 hours ago
Real estate stocks make Hang Seng the biggest loser among Asian benchmarks
Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell over 2%, led by real estate stocks, after the People's Bank of China kept its one-year and five-year lending rates at 3.45% and 4.2%, respectively.
The biggest loser on the HSI was real estate developer China Resources Land, which fell 9.54%.
Other stocks on the list of biggest losers included residential real estate investment firm Longfor Group, which lost 5.99%, and hotpot chain Haidilao, which lost 6.27%.
5 hours ago
The decision of the Chinese LPR is awaited, the markets do not expect any change
Investors will await an update from China's central bank on key interest rates for one- and five-year loans at around 9:15 a.m. Singapore time.
The one- and five-year LPR are currently at 3.45% and 4.2%, respectively, and markets expect the People's Bank of China to make no changes to interest rates.
The PBOC surprised market participants by leaving the interest rate on one-year medium-term credit facilities (MLF) worth about 995 billion yuan ($138.84 billion) unchanged at 2.50% last week.
“The market expects both the 1-year and 5-year LPRs to remain unchanged at 3.45% and 4.2%, respectively,” Commerzbank analysts wrote in a note to clients, while also noting , China's foreign direct investment in 2023 recorded its largest annual decline since 2009.
Commerzbank said foreign direct investment in China fell 8% in Chinese yuan terms last year. The decline was due to several factors, including the country's economic slowdown, high global interest rates, increasing regulatory and geopolitical risks, and the West's tough stance on China's technology sector.
—Shreyashi Sanyal