China stocks fall on tariff woes, weak data

Shanghai, Aug 1 China's main Shanghai stock market and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell on Wednesday, as plans by the US to propose higher tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports brought trade war fears back into focus, and as new manufacturing data underscored a weak outlook for growth.

At 03:32 GMT, the Shanghai Composite index was down 9.07 points or 0.32 per cent at 2,867.33. China's blue-chip CSI300 index was down 0.4 per cent, with its financial sector sub-index lower by 0.81 per cent, the consumer staples sector down 0.64 per cent, the real estate index down 3.38 per cent and healthcare sub-index down 0.86 per cent.

US tariffs on Chinese goods

The Trump administration plans to propose slapping a 25 per cent tariff on $200 billion of imported Chinese goods after initially setting them at 10 per cent, in a bid to pressure Beijing into making trade concessions, a source familiar with the plan had said on Tuesday.

China's manufacturing sector grew at its slowest pace in eight months in July as export orders declined. Chinese H-shares listed in Hong Kong rose 0.02 per cent to 11,026.7, while the Hang Seng Index was down 0.17 per cent at 28,533.37.

The smaller Shenzhen index was down 0.25 per cent and the start-up board ChiNext Composite index was higher by 0.21 per cent. Around the region, MSCI's Asia ex-Japan stock index was firmer by 0.01 per cent, while Japan's Nikkei index was up 0.57 per cent.

The yuan was quoted at 6.816 per US dollar, 0.03 per cent firmer than the previous close of 6.8181. On Wednesday, China set its yuan mid-point at 6.8293 per dollar, its weakest level since May 2017.

Gainers, losers in Shanghai index

The largest percentage gainers in the main Shanghai Composite index were Shanghai Shenhua Holdings Co Ltd up 10.1 per cent, followed by Orient International Enterprise Ltd gaining 10.04 per cent and GuiZhou YongJi Printing Co Ltd up by 10.03 per cent.

The largest percentage losers in the Shanghai index were Hunan Fangsheng Pharmaceutical Co Ltd down 8.74 per cent, followed by Raisecom Technology Co Ltd losing 8.23 per cent and Shenzhen Sunxing Light Alloys Materials Co Ltd down by 7.31 per cent.

So far this year, the Shanghai stock index is down 13.03 per cent, while China's H-share index is down 5.8 per cent. Top gainers among H-shares were Guangzhou Automobile Group Co Ltd up 3.67 per cent, followed by CSPC Pharmaceutical Group Ltd gaining 2.44 per cent and ZhongAn Online P & C Insurance Co Ltd up by 1.95 per cent.

The three biggest H-shares percentage decliners were China Resources Land Ltd which has fallen 3.14 per cent, China Vanke Co Ltd which has lost 2.8 per cent and Huaneng Power International Inc down by 2.5 percent.

About 8.23 billion shares have traded so far on the Shanghai exchange, roughly 60.3 per cent of the market's 30-day moving average of 13.65 billion shares a day. The volume traded was 11.89 billion as of the last full trading day.

As of 03:32 GMT, China's A-shares were trading at a premium of 17.36 percent over the Hong Kong-listed H-shares. The Shanghai stock index is below its 50-day moving average and below its 200-day moving average.

The price-to-earnings ratio of the Shanghai index was 12.55 as of the last full trading day while the dividend yield was 2.6 per cent. So far this week, the market capitalisation of the Shanghai stock index has risen by 0.12 per cent to 30.49 trillion yuan.

In Hong Kong, the sub-index of the Hang Seng index tracking energy shares dipped 0.3 per cent, while the IT sector rose 0.4 per cent. Technology shares in the region have received a boost from strong quarterly earnings from Apple Inc. Top gainer on Hang Seng was WH Group Ltd up 3.33 per cent, while the biggest loser was Country Garden Holdings Co Ltd which was down 4.77 per cent.

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