Hong Kong stocks snap three-day decline on hopes for Fed rate cut; Wharf, SHK rally

Hong Kong stocks rose Thursday, halting a three-day losing streak, as investors increased their bets that the Federal Reserve will cut rates later this month following a weak US jobs report.
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The Hang Seng Index rose 0.2 per cent to 17,485.68 as of 10.07am local time. The benchmark was down 3 per cent over the past three days. The Hang Seng Tech Index dropped 0.1 per cent and the Shanghai Composite Index was little changed.

Hong Kong property developers gained on optimism that lower borrowing costs will encourage more home purchases, as the city’s interest rate is linked with the US’s using a fixed-exchange rate. Wharf Real Estate Investment rallied 2.3 per cent to HK$22.05; Sun Hung Kai Properties rose 1.5 per cent to HK$74.85; and CK Asset Holdings gained 1.5 per cent to HK$31.

New job openings in the US fell short of consensus estimates in July and hit their lowest level since 2021, triggering a slide in the yield on two-year Treasury notes. A report on US payrolls is due on Friday, which will offer more clues on how the Fed will react to the job market data at its policy meeting.

Elsewhere, Alibaba Group Holding dropped 0.4 per cent to HK$79.90 and Tencent Holdings lost 0.3 per cent to HK$371.80. Alibaba will start to solicit comments from merchants on accepting WeChat Pay, a digital-payment service offered by Tencent, on its e-commerce platforms.