Hong Kong stocks fell in early trading on Wednesday, as investors fretted over the ongoing US-China trade war that shows no signs of dying down, while ignoring China’s economic growth in the first quarter.
The Hang Seng Index dropped 1.5 per cent to 21,140.76 at 10.01am local time, its first decline in seven days. The Tech Index slumped by a sharper 3.1 per cent. On the mainland, the CSI 300 Index eased 0.7 per cent and the Shanghai Composite Index dipped 0.5 per cent.
The declines were led by mainland Chinese tech giants after the US imposed new restrictions on chipmaker Nvidia. On-demand delivery service provider Meituan slumped 5.4 per cent to HK$138.80, PC maker Lenovo Group declined 3.8 per cent to HK$7.96 and Alibaba Group Holding slipped 3.3 per cent to HK$106.20.
Chipmaker SMIC gained 1.7 per cent to HK$46.70 amid expectations that it could be one of the beneficiaries of the restrictions on Nvidia. HSBC Holdings added 1.7 per cent to HK$80.10 and CKH Holdings rose 1.4 per cent to HK$42.45.
China’s economy grew 5.4 per cent in the first three months of the year, exceeding Bloomberg’s estimates of 5.2 per cent. The first-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) was supported by front-loading of exports in anticipation of the higher US tariffs, matching the 5.4 per cent growth in the fourth quarter.
In overnight trading on Wall Street, Nvidia fell more than 6 per cent after the chipmaker said in a regulatory filing that exports of its H20 chip to China would require a licence “for the indefinite future”. US officials said the new rules addressed concerns that “the covered products may be used in, or diverted to, a supercomputer in China”, according to the filing.
