Wednesday, 05 August 2015 15:05
HONG KONG: Hong Kong stocks closed up 0.44 percent on Wednesday, driven by a strong performance by banking equities, but Shanghai closed down on profit-taking following a late spurt the previous day.
Dealers were paying close attention to the US economy after Fed Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Dennis Lockhart said he supports lifting rates in September barring an unexpected downturn in the world’s top economy.
The Hong Kong dollar is pegged to the greenback, so the city is hit with higher borrowing costs when rates are raised in the United States.
Banking firms in Hong Kong seemed unaffected, however, leading gains with ICBC up 1.53 percent to $ 5.35, HSBC rising 1.79 percent to $ 71.20 and China Construction Bank putting on 0.16 percent to $ 6.34.
The Hang Seng Index put on 108.04 points to finish at 24,514.16 on turnover of HK$ 68.60 billion ($ 8.85 billion).
Asia-focused British bank Standard Chartered announced after the closing bell Wednesday that net profit had plunged by more than a third in the first six months of the year, while shareholder dividends were slashed by half.
Net profit slumped 36.7 percent compared to the same period last year, with pre-tax profits nosediving 44 percent and revenue down eight percent.
Chinese internet giant Tencent was down 0.49 percent to HK$ 142.3 after Beijing announced plans to set up “network security offices” inside major online firms, as the government seeks to firm its grip on information circulating among the world’s largest population of internet users.
