Hong Kong Market extends losses to 2nd day

Hong Kong share market finished lower for second straight session on Tuesday, 31 January 2023, as investors continued withdrawing profit off the table on following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight, signs of an escalating Sino-U.S. tech war, and worries about another US rate hike this week.

At closing bell, the benchmark Hang Seng Index declined 227.40 points, or 1.03%, to 21,842.33. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index was down 73.15 points, or 0.95%, to 7,4224.92.

The U.S. Federal Reserve will reveal the outcome of its policy meeting Wednesday, while the Bank of England and European Central Bank is slated to announce its policy gathering results on Thursday. Investors will be looking for clues about how much higher the central bank will take rates in the fight against inflation. The market is widely expecting a 25-basis point interest rate hike to bring the Fed funds rates to 4.5% to 4.75%.

China tech stocks dropped after news that the Biden administration has stopped approving licenses for U.S. companies to export most items to China's Huawei, signaling an escalating of the tech war.

Among blue chips, Alibaba Group fell 2.3 per cent to HK$106.50, Tencent Holdings tumbled 2.9 per cent to HK$376 while JD.com lost 3.8 per cent to HK$228.40. Wuxi Biologics dropped 1.4 per cent to HK$66.05 and Sunny Optical Technology slipped 4.7 per cent to HK$104.40.

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