China and Hong Kong stocks fell on Friday, in line with Asian peers after President Donald Trump announced the US would impose hefty tariffs on steel and aluminium imports.
By the lunch break, the Hang Seng index dropped 1.5 per cent to 30,568.02 points, while the Hong Kong China Enterprises Index lost 1.9 per cent to 12,193.17.
China’s blue-chip CSI300 index fell 0.4 per cent, to 4,032.46 points, while the Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.3 per cent, to 3,263.18 points, reports Reuters.
Major steel maker Baoshan Iron & Steel fell 3.5 per cent, while Aluminium Corp of China was 1.3 per cent.
For the week, Hong Kong stocks are poised to decline over 2.0 per cent, while Shanghai shares are set to lose around 0.8 per cent, as investors worry about the risks of faster US interest rate hikes.
Around the region, MSCI’s Asia ex-Japan stock index was weaker by 1.0 per cent while Japan’s Nikkei index was down 2.3 per cent.
The largest percentage gainers in the main Shanghai Composite index were Tongling Jingda Special Magnet Wire Co Ltd, up 10 per cent, followed by Beijing Teamsun Technology Co Ltd, gaining 8.19 per cent and Anhui Xinli Finance Co Ltd, up by 5.93 per cent.
The largest percentage decliners in the Shanghai index were XiAn Shaangu Power Co Ltd down 8.82 per cent, followed by Hangzhou Silan Microelectronics Co Ltd losing 5.16 per cent and Shanghai Baosight Software Co Ltd down by 4.69 per cent.
In Hong Kong, the sub-index of the Hang Seng index tracking energy shares dipped 2.0 per cent while the IT sector fell 1.9 per cent.
The top gainer on Hang Seng was China Resources Power Holdings Co Ltd, up 1.17 per cent, while the biggest loser was Sunny Optical Technology Group Co Ltd which was down 2.65 per cent.
The top gainers among H-shares were Sinopharm Group Co Ltd, up 2.35 per cent, followed by Huaneng Power International Inc gaining 2.02 per cent and CGN Power Co Ltd up by 0.96 per cent.
The three biggest H-shares percentage decliners were China Citic Bank Corp Ltd which has fallen 3.12 per cent, Air China Ltd which has lost 3.0 per cent and People’s Insurance Group of China Co Ltd down by 2.8 per cent.
