HONG KONG: Hong Kong shares rose slightly on Tuesday, with sentiment aided by a private survey showing China’s services sector expanded at a steady pace in May.
The Hang Seng index rose 0.3 percent, to 31,093.45, while the China Enterprises Index gained 0.1 percent, to 12,259.32 points.
China’s services sector expanded at a solid pace last month, with companies accelerating hiring on the back of the strongest optimism for future growth in 11 months, the survey showed.
The sub-index of Hang Seng tracking energy shares dipped 1.2 percent, while the IT sector rose 1.21 percent, the financial sector was 0.19 percent higher and property sector rose 1.13 percent.
Around the region, MSCI’s Asia ex-Japan stock index was firmer by 0.09 percent while Japan’s Nikkei index closed up 0.28 percent.
The yuan was quoted at 6.401 per US dollar at 08:19 GMT, 0.04 percent firmer than the previous close of 6.4027.
As of the previous trading session, the Hang Seng index was up 3.61 percent this year, while China’s H-share index was up 4.6 percent. As of the previous close, the Hang Seng has risen 1.74 percent this month.
The three biggest H-shares percentage decliners were Guangdong Investment Ltd which was down 5.84 percent, China Petroleum & Chemical Corp which fell 2.7 percent and China Shenhua Energy Co Ltd down by 2.3 percent.
About 1.78 billion Hang Seng index shares were traded, roughly 100.9 percent of the market’s 30-day moving average of 1.76 billion shares a day. The volume traded in the previous trading session was 1.89 billion.
At close, China’s A-shares were trading at a premium of 18.71 percent over the Hong Kong-listed H-shares.
The price-to-earnings ratio of the Hang Seng index was 12.54 as of the last full trading day while the dividend yield was 3.1 percent.
So far this week, the market capitalisation of the Hang Seng index has risen by 2.36 percent to HK$20.22 trillion.
Source: Brecorder
