Markets and demonstrations in Hong Kong

Stocks in Asia experienced problems on Thursday. The major factor which affected the stock markets is the law signed by U.S. President Donald Trump. He signed into law two bills, which may jeopardize the future of the trade talks. Moreover, by approving these bills Trump administration underlined its support to the demonstrators in Hong Kong.

In China, mainland stocks declined on November 28. The Shanghai Composite fell by 0.47% to about 2,889.69. Meanwhile, the Shenzhen component declined by 0.27% to 9,622.14.

The Shenzhen composite slipped 0.259% and is close to 1,597.85.

Markets and geopolitics

Starting from this week, the shares of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba are available on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. However, the main venue will remain the New York Stock Exchange. Hong Kong-listed shares of Alibaba rose 5.59% which is a good result.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index declined by 0.22% to 26,893.73.

Japan has the second-largest economy in Asia. The Nikkei 225 index struggled as its index fell by 0.12% to 23,409.14. Topix which is another Japanese index suffered losses. Its index declined by 0.17% to 1,708.06.

On Thursday, the shares of the world-famous Japanese company Panasonic gained 2.82%. This happened as the Nikkei Asian Review reported that the company would sell its semiconductor business. Panasonic plans to sell this business to Nuvoton Technology, which is a company based in Taiwan.

In South Korea, the Kospi index fell by 0.43% and is close to 2,118.60. However, in the Asia Pacific region, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 finished its trading days, 0.2% higher at 6,864.00.

Hong Kong’s government made it clear that the decision is against the move. According to the government, this will send the wrong signal to protestors.

The decision to sign into the law comes at a time when market sentiment improved in recent days thanks to positive information regarding the trade talks. Hopefully, analysts expect that new law won’t derail the trade talks.