The Hang Seng Index slid 1.1 per cent to 26,764.83 as of 11.33am local time, trimming the weekly gain to 2 per cent. The decline was the steepest since October 31. The Hang Seng Tech Index dropped 2 per cent. On the mainland, the CSI 300 Index slid 0.8 per cent and the Shanghai Composite Index retreated 0.2 per cent.
A slew of data for October indicated that China’s economy softened further. Although industrial production climbed 4.9 per cent last month from a year earlier, it missed the median estimate for a 5.5 per cent increase in a Bloomberg survey.
Retail sales rose 2.9 per cent, decelerating for the fifth straight month in the longest such decline since 2021. Fixed-asset investment shrank 1.7 per cent in the first 10 months of the year, a record for the period. Also, the decline in China’s home prices deepened last month, worsening years of downturn.
