Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index plunged on Monday. Apart from Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index, mainland Chinese stocks also declined. Moreover, Chinese stocks led losses in Asia-Pacific markets on the first day of the week as investors reacted to China’s inflation data for March and monitored the situation regarding the pandemic on the mainland.
Hong Kong stocks and mainland Chinese stocks have been tumbling all day. However, losses deepened by Monday’s market close. The CSI 300 index dropped 3.09% to 4,100.07%. As a reminder, the CSI index tracks the largest mainland-listed stocks. On Monday, the Shanghai composite dropped 2.61% to finish its trading day at 3,167.13. The Shenzhen component plunged 3.671% to 11,520.21.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index declined 3.03% to 21,208.30. Shares of Nio listed in Hong Kong fell after the company announced a suspension in production due to disruptions at its supply chain partners as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Inflation data and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index
As previously stated, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell on Monday as the situation in China is not ideal, to say the least.
The country’s producer inflation for March exceeded expectations. The producer price index rose 8.3% as compared with a year ago, official data showed on Monday.
Chinese consumer inflation also surpassed expectations in March, with the consumer price index climbing 1.5% year-on-year.
China is willing to do whatever it takes in order to maintain its policy regarding the pandemic. Currently, the country is fighting to control its worst outbreak of Covid-19 since the beginning of the pandemic in early 2020. Shanghai, the country’s most populous city, reported a record high combined number of cases for Sunday, 914 with symptoms and 25,173 without.
The Nikkei 225 in Japan fell 0.61% to close at 26,821.52. The Topix index declined 0.38% to finish its trading day at 1,889.64.
In South Korea, the Kospi dropped 0.27% to close at 2,693.10. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 bucked the overall trend as the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.1% to 7,485.20.
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