Hong Kong Market falls 1.35%

Hong Kong stock market finished session down on Friday, 30 July 2021, following decline in Mainland A-share market, as investors risk-off sentiments grappled with an uncertain regulatory landscape, given the range of industries targeted by the government including derailing Ant Group's blockbuster IPO to rules curbing monopolistic practices across the internet space, reducing leverage in the property industry and reforming the private education firms.

Investors remained cautious even after regulators in Beijing said its policy actions were meant to improve the sector, while commentaries and reports in state-run media sought to shore up sentiment. State-run media published a series of articles suggesting the selloff was overdone, while the nation's securities regulator convened a video conference with banking executives to convey the message that education policies were not intended to hurt companies in other industries.

At closing bell, the benchmark Hang Seng Index fell 1.35%, or 354.29 points, to 25,961.03, dragging the benchmark to a 5% loss for the week. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index dropped 1.94%, or 182.47 points, to 9,233.22. The Hang Seng Index lost almost 10% for the month of July.

The sub-index of the Hang Seng tracking the commerce & industry sector fell 2.36% and the properties sector fell 2.34%, while the finance sector rose 0.25% and the utilities sector rose 0.37%.

Among blue-chip stocks, Tencent Holdings slipped 2.6% to HK$479. Meituan tumbled 5.9% to HK$215 and Alibaba Group Holding retreated 4.2% to HK$189.

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