Hong Kong stocks opened lower on Thursday and Chinese stocks were flat despite gains on Wall Street overnight as investors worried that Washington could blacklist more Chinese companies.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index opens 0.6 percent lower while China’s CSI 300 is little changed in early next session. Financial Times reported on Wednesday that the United States will add eight Chinese companies to its investment blacklist for alleged involvement in surveillance of the country’s Muslim Uighur minority.
Joe Biden’s administration is also expected to place a number of Chinese biotech companies on the list.entity list” Bans American companies from exporting technology to corporations from the US without a license.
Dawning Information Industry, a technology company expected to be added to the list, fell as much as 1% in morning trade, while Sino Biopharmaceuticals opened 1.1 lower, continuing its post-lower momentum. significantly on Wednesday.
Shares of other companies expected to be added to the list rose on Thursday. NetPosa Technologies rose as much as 6.3%, while Xiamen Meiya Pico increased up to 3%.
Wuxi Biologics, whose shares fell nearly 20% on Wednesday on fears of being placed on an entity list, jumped as much as 9.4% in morning trading after the company said it might buy back. shares worth $500 million.
Shares elsewhere in the Asia-Pacific region edged higher on positive sentiment in the US after The Federal Reserve Signals that it will begin to reduce inflation. Japan’s Topix and Nikkei 225 gained 1.5 and 2.1%, respectively, while South Korea’s Kospi gained 1%.
In the commodity market, the Brent contract for February delivery rose more than 1% to around $74 a barrel. Gold also gained 0.3%.
Futures on Wall Street rose while the yield on the 10-year US Treasury note was unchanged at 1.46%.
US Stocks increase on Wednesday afternoon after the Fed released its hawkish rate forecast and plans to accelerate the rate at which it will ease crisis policy measures that have supported financial markets throughout the coronavirus pandemic.
Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 index, which had fallen about 0.2 percent earlier in the day, returned to a 1.6 percent gain, to close at its second-highest on record. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite also erased a 0.7% drop to trade up 2.2% on the day.
Fed officials said they expected to raise US interest rates three times in 2022, having previously been split equally by the prospect of rate hikes next year.
The central bank also said it would double the rate at which it would “decreasing,” or withdrawing, its massive bond-buying program, cutting purchases by $30 billion a month starting May. January.
Analysts say the optimism in the US stock market shows that investors are relieved by the clarity of the Fed’s plans and do not expect them to significantly affect the broad recovery. broader share of stock prices since the pandemic.
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