KGI Asia Commentary

2024.09.02 10:00

Hang Seng Index rose 203 points on Friday

The Hang Seng Index opened 8 points higher, at 17,794 points, and the day's gain expanded to 203 points, or 1.1%, to 17,989 points on Friday; the HSCEI Index rose 84 points, or 1.3%, to 6,331 points; the Hang Seng Technology Index rose 99 points, or 2.8%, to 3,560 points, the market’s total trading volume for the day was HK$173.5 billion.

 

U.S. Consumer confidence index picks up

U.S. stocks closed higher on Friday. The Dow Jones index rose 228.03 points, or 0.55%, to 41563.08 points, a record high; the Nasdaq index rose 197.19 points, or 1.13%, to 17713.62 points; the S&P 500 index rose 56.44 points, an increase of 1.01%, reported at 5648.40 points. Last week, the three major U.S. stock indexes had divergent trends. The Dow rose 0.94%, the S&P 500 rose 0.24%, and the Nasdaq fell 0.92%.

 

Regarding economic data, the University of Michigan's consumer confidence index was 67.9, higher than the previous value of 66.4 and better than the market expectation of 67.8; the one-year inflation expectation fell to 2.8% from the prior value of 2.9%. The U.S. personal consumption expenditures (PCE) in July reported a year-on-year increase of 2.5%, in line with market expectations; a month-on-month increase of 0.2%, also in line with market expectations. The core PCE price index, excluding food and energy prices, rose 0.2% month-on-month in July, in line with market expectations, and rose 2.6% year-on-year, slightly lower than market expectations of 2.7%. The PCE index continues to develop moderately, and the market will pay attention to the performance of employment data in the future.

 

China's manufacturing PMI continues to slow

The National Bureau of Statistics announced on Saturday that the manufacturing PMI for August was 49.1, lower than market expectations of 49.5. The announced value was the second-lowest level in the past year. Among the details, new orders, new export orders, and ex-factory prices continued to maintain a contraction range. In particular, the ex-factory price has been reduced to 42. Even though the purchase price of raw materials has also fallen, the data shows that the ex-factory price is more obviously under pressure. It is expected that the industrial gross profit margin will further decline in the future.

 

Hong Kong Stock Connect saw a net outflow of HK$1.367 billion on Friday, of which Tencent (700) had the largest inflow, reaching HK$680 million; followed by Ping An of China (2318). Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (1398) recorded the largest net outflow of HK$478 million; followed by China Construction Bank (0939).

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The Group’s results registered steady growth with newly signed contracts amounted to HKD125,130mn, representing a yoy increase of 29.2%. The unaudited revenue amounted to HKD61,755mn, increase 12.1% yoy. The profit attributable to the shareholders increased by12.7% to HKD5,465mn. The Board declared the distribution of an interim dividend of HK33 cents per share for the year of 2024, translating to a dividend payout ratio of about 30.4%, an increase of 1.8 percentage points compared to the same period last year. In terms of HK and Macau Markets, the Group fully leveraged its rich experience in construction and its advantages in construction technology, and formed a consortium with the French Veolia Group to successfully win the bid for the West New Territories Landfill Extension (“WENTX”). The total contract amount of the project reached HKD61.1bn (with the Group’s attributable contract value of approximately HKD42.8 bn), making it the largest engineering project in the history of the Group. Meanwhile, for the Chinese Mainland Market, the Group continues to promote the application of MiC technology. Considering the steady growth of the company's performance, MiC continues to promote business growth, and the opportunities brought by the development of the northern metropolitan area, the investment value of China State Construction remains. Target price: $12.3; Stop- Loss price: $10.6.

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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