Hong Kong stocks underperform due to protests

On Monday (July 29, 2019), Hong Kong stocks started tumbling following mass demonstrations that lasted about 3 days and civil unrest in the city due to mass protests.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell more than 1% in the morning trading whereas China’s Shanghai Composite and the SZSE Component were both down 0.2% as reported by Investing.com.

According to a government statement, about 49 people were arrested during the protests and the protesters stood against the Chief Executive Carrie Lam and her proposed bill that would allow extraditions to mainland China.

“There’s some kind of uncertainty around the property price and the stability of the city. It will definitely affect the market sentiment, no questions asked. The property sector outperformed in first and second quarter driven by expectations that the Fed will cut interest rates…if it’s only a 25 bps cut, there’s nothing more to boost the market,” said Dickie Wong, head of research at Kingston Securities.

(Reference: Investing.com, South China Morning Post, Financial Times, WION)
(Featured image source: Reuters)