The Hong Kong Stock Exchange was open on the first trading day of the year. Most of the other Asian trading centers were still closed.
(Photo: dpa)
Hong Kong The Hong Kong stock exchange started the trading year 2022 with losses. The leading index Hang Seng fell on Monday by 0.6 percent to 23,262 points. Most of the other exchanges in Asia remained closed because of the New Year holiday.
“The weak trend is related to the persistently negative news from the mainland real estate market,” said investment strategist Kenny Ng of brokerage firm Everbright Sun Hung Kai. The shares of the troubled real estate company China Evergrande remained suspended due to an imminent announcement of trade.
The company, which is in debt with around 300 billion dollars, last week again let interest payments on a bond pass. In addition, a community on the Chinese holiday island of Hainan ordered the demolition of 39 buildings because they were illegally erected.
At the end of the stock market year 2021, the Asian stock markets had not found a common direction last Thursday. In Tokyo, the Nikkei index fell 0.4 percent to 28,791 points. The broader Topix index fell 0.3 percent. The Chinese stock exchange in Shanghai, on the other hand, was up 0.6 percent.
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According to experts, what happens on the stock exchanges in Asia in the new year will mainly depend on the development of the pandemic. Stockbrokers were largely confident. “The environment for stocks looks good next year,” said Masahiro Ichikawa, chief market strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management. “Omikron looks like it won’t be a huge shock to markets, and investors don’t seem concerned about the prospect of two or three rate hikes by the US Federal Reserve in the next year.”
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