Hong Kong: Shares down on weakness in mainland China markets

[HONG KONG] Hong Kong shares snapped a five-day winning streak on Tuesday, dragged down by losses in mainland China markets.

Profits at major Chinese industrial companies in December fell 8 per cent from a year earlier as the economy slowed, data showed.

Traders were also watching China's yuan, which hit a near-eight-month low against the dollar on Monday. It edged higher on Tuesday after the central bank fixed a moderately stronger midpoint.

The Hang Seng index fell 0.4 per cent to 24,807.28 points, while the China Enterprises Index lost 1.6 per cent to 12,030.38 points.

Among the most actively traded stocks on Hong Kong's main board were Wai Chun Group Holdings Ltd, up 30.0 per cent at HK$0.07, Wai Chun Mining Industry Group Co Ltd , up 65.7 per cent at HK$0.18 and Ping Shan Tea Group Ltd, up 4.0 per cent at HK$0.08.

Chinese investment flowing from Shanghai into Hong Kong through the mutual market access pilot programme took up 0.89 billion yuan (US$142.48 million) of the 10.5 billion yuan daily quota.

Total trading volume of companies included in the HSI index was 1.7 billion shares.

REUTERS