Hong Kong stocks fell for the seventh session in a row Thursday as energy producers such as PetroChina Co. skidded on falling crude-oil prices and as many property developers dropped after data showing a steep decline in April transactions.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index sliced off 53.63 points, or 0.2%, to 23,261.60
Markets in Japan and Korea had the day off.
Overall, a sense of caution prevailed before the European Central Bank’s interest-rate meeting later in the day, and after dropping commodity prices and weak U.S. economic data weighed on Wall Street overnight.
Falling commodity prices kept investors on edge, with a continued selloff in silver prices reflecting the heightened risk aversion.
Prices of spot silver were bid at $38.55 U.S. a troy ounce, 84 cents lower than the settlement in New York. The metal has lost about a fifth of its value just this week. Spot gold, meanwhile, edged $4.50 lower to $1,510.90 U.S. an ounce. June crude-oil futures also continued to selloff, trading at $108.88 U.S. a barrel in electronic trading.
Several resource-sector stocks in the region buckled under the impact of those moves.
In Hong Kong, Cnooc Ltd. skidded 2% and Jiangxi Copper Co. gave up 1.8%, while PetroChina fell 2.6% in Hong Kong and 0.5% in Shanghai
Property developers also skidded on data showing that the number of transactions fell 23% in April from the previous month, and 27% from the year-earlier period. The decline follows a sharp increase in prices over the past several quarters, and amid rising mortgage rates in the city.
Shares of Cheung Kong Holdings Ltd. fell 0.6% and Hang Lung Properties Ltd. dropped 1.6%.
Shares of Esprit Holdings Ltd. shed 2.5% after J.P. Morgan cut the fashion wholesaler and retailer’s earnings estimates and price target.
In Sydney, however, many resource stocks recovered after losses suffered in the recent past. The market rose as data released earlier Thursday showed the country’s March retail sales fell 0.5% from February, compared with an expected 0.5% rise. First-quarter retail sales were flat on quarter, compared with an expected 0.7% gain.
The data dampened interest-rate-hike expectations, and pulled down the Australian dollar as low as $1.0692. More recently, it was fetching $1.0714.
In the retail sector, shares of Harvey Norman Holdings Ltd. fell 1.1% after the retail data, but Myer Holdings Ltd. bounced off the day’s low to finish up 0.3%.
In the commodities space, Rio Tinto Ltd. rose 0.3% and BHP Billiton Ltd. added 0.6% to provide support.
A 2.4% rise in National Australia Bank Ltd. shares aided the market after the lender’s fiscal first-half profit topped expectations.
In foreign-exchange markets, the euro rose against the dollar as traders awaited the ECB’s policy meeting later in the global day.
The single currency was fetching $1.4893 U.S. from $1.4829 U.S. late in New York on Wednesday, and 119.52 yen from 119.47. The dollar was at ¥80.25 from ¥80.61.
In other markets;
Shanghai’s CSI 300 Composite Index gave back 2.91 points to 3,126.12
Taiwan’s Taiex Index added 71.26 points, or 0.8%, to 9,018.61
Singapore’s Straits Times index lost 3.91 points, or 0.1%, to 3,109.85
New Zealand’s NZX 50 tacked on 3.80 points, or 0.1%, to 3,498.99
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 regained 13.60 points, or 0.3%, to 4,753.70
