HONG KONG: Hong Kong stocks opened the Wednesday morning session higher while mainland Chinese markets trended down. Markets remain cautious ahead of an interest rate decision by the US Federal Reserve on Thursday Hong Kong time.
The Hang Seng Index opened up 0.10 per cent or 26.02 points at 25,878.12, and the Hang Seng China Enterprises index rose 0.21 per cent or 21.91 points to 10,547.65. Tech counters rebounded after declines in previous sessions. Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) gained 7.2 per cent to HK$8.30 in the early morning trade. The company’s stock price has risen over 34 per cent since June last year. It was upgrade by Macquarie from “neutral” to “outperform” on Tuesday. China Unicom was up 2.14 per cent to HK$11.44 and Chaowei Power gained 2.46 per cent to HK$5.00.
Dalian Port resumed trading Wednesday after announcing a restructuring. The stock surged over 9.63 per cent to HK$1.48. Benchmark indices on the mainland opened lower on Wednesday. The Shanghai Composite Index was down 0.23 per cent or 7.12 points to 3,146.62 while the CSI 300 — which tracks the large caps listed in Shanghai and Shenzhen — dropped 0.41 per cent or 14.72 points to 3,567.18. The Shenzhen Composite Index lost 0.16 per cent or 15.98 points to 10,208.84. China released its May industrial production number and the growth rate was 6.5 per cent year on year. Retail sales increased 10.7 per cent in May, in line with estimates.