Hong Kong stocks slide on earnings, China economic woes while small-caps suffer 5% rout in Beijing

Hong Kong stocks extend a decline towards a two-week low on concerns corporate earnings will disappoint investors amid China’s economic slowdown and property market slump. Reports this week may show Chinese manufacturing contracted again in November.

The Hang Seng Index fell 0.2 per cent to 17,486.98 at 10.08am local time. The Tech Index climbed 0.2 per cent while the Shanghai Composite Index was little changed. The BSE50 Index of small-cap stocks in Beijing slumped by a record 5 per cent after measures to cool a recent rally.

Alibaba Group tumbled 1.1 per cent to HK$75.25 while Meituan retreated 1.4 per cent to HK$107.10 and Tencent declined 1.2 per cent to HK$318.80. China’s biggest lender ICBC fell 0.3 per cent to HK$3.77 while peer Construction Bank dropped 0.2 per cent to HK$4.55 on speculation they will be called to lend more to troubled developers.

Alibaba Health Information lost 0.4 per cent to HK$4.63 with its interim earnings today expected to show a 29 per cent slide from a year earlier, according to analyst forecasts. Some 31 of 80 Hang Seng Index members have released their reports for the September quarter, generating an average 6.5 per cent growth from a year earlier, according to Bloomberg data. Earnings in the first half grew at a 7 per cent pace.

Manufacturing in China likely shrank this month, following a surprise contraction in October, according to consensus among economists tracked by Bloomberg before a government report on November 30.

Xiamen Sinic-Tek Intelligent Technology, which makes machine vision inspection devices, jumped 201 per cent to 70 yuan on the first day of trading in Shenzhen.

Other major Asian markets were mixed. Japan’s Nikkei 225 slipped 0.2 per cent, while South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.3 per cent and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 added 0.6 per cent.