KGI Asia Commentary
Hang Seng Index fell 241 points on Friday
The Hang Seng Index fell 241 points, or 1.4%, to 16,721 points on Friday; the China National Index fell 86 points, or 1.4%, to 5,820 points; the Hang Seng Technology Index fell 54 points, or 1.5%, to 3,550 points. The total daily turnover of the market was HK$139.1 billion. Chinese technology stocks generally fell, with Tencent (0700) and Alibaba (9988) falling 1.9% and 2.1% respectively. In February, the price index of new commercial housing in 70 large and medium-sized cities fell 0.3% month-on-month. Mainland property stocks fell back, with Longfor (0960) and Xincheng (1030) falling 3.5% and 2.7% respectively.
New York state manufacturing survey index sharply missed expectations
U.S. stocks closed lower on Friday, with all three major stock indexes recording losses for last week. The Dow Jones Index fell 190.89 points, or 0.49%, to 38714.77 points; the Nasdaq Index fell 155.36 points, or 0.96%, to 15973.17 points; the S&P 500 Index fell 33.53 points, or 0.65%, to 5116.95 points. The Dow Jones index fell 0.02% last week, recording losses for the third consecutive week. The Nasdaq fell 0.7% and the S&P 500 fell 0.13%, both marking their second consecutive weekly decline.
In terms of economic data, the initial value of the University of Michigan consumer confidence index in the United States fell to 76.5 in March, lower than market expectations of 77.1 and 76.9 in February. The index continued to fall and was lower than market expectations and the previous value, but overall it is still at a relatively high level in the near future. On the other hand, the New York State manufacturing survey index in the United States fell to minus 20.9 in March, far lower than market expectations of minus 7. The previous value was minus 2.4. The sharp decline in data was mainly dragged down by declines in indicators such as orders, shipments, and employment, reflecting pressure on the performance of the U.S. manufacturing industry.
Things to watch this week: Fed dot plot
At midnight on Thursday, Hong Kong time this week, the Federal Reserve will announce the results of its interest rate meeting in March. Currently, majorities believes that there will be no interest rate cut in March. However, at this interest rate meeting, the market is more concerned about the quarterly updated interest rate dot plot, which can provide the market with potential rate change path.
The net inflow of Hong Kong Stock Connect on Friday was HK$ 4.166 billion, of which Bank of China (3988) had the largest inflow, reaching HK$403 million; followed by China Mobile (941). Meituan (3690) recorded the largest net outflow of HK$505 million, followed by Tencent (700).
Wen Kit Kenny is a SFC licensed person accredited to KGI Group to carry on regulated activities (for details, please refer to:https://apps.sfc.hk/publicregWeb/indi/AJF244/details). He and/or his associate do not have any financial interest in the recommended issuer or new listing applicant.
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