Hong Kong: Shares fall, led down by Tencent Holdings

[HONG KONG] Hong Kong stocks retreated on Tuesday, breaking an eight-day winning streak, as Tencent Holdings Ltd slumped after its chief executive reduced his holdings in China's biggest social networking and online entertainment firm.

Tencent, whose market capitalisation topped US$200 billion for the first time on Monday on the back of Hong Kong's recent bull run, tumbled 5.5 per cent on Tuesday in its biggest single-day drop in nearly a year.

The fall came after exchange disclosures showed that Tencent CEO Pony Ma last week sold 20 million shares for HK$3.22 billion.

Although the news triggered profit-taking, many investors believe Hong Kong's bull market is not over.

"We expect the flows to invest in Hong Kong from mainland investors to continue," said Mandy Chan, head of Chinese and Hong Kong equities, HSBC Global Asset Management.

The Hang Seng index fell 1.6 per cent, to 27,561.49, while the China Enterprises Index lost 2.2 per cent, to 14,264.81 points.

Among the most actively traded stocks on Hong Kong's main board were CCT Land, unchanged at HK$0.02 GOME , down 12.1 per cent to HK$2.19 and Ch Env Energy , up 39.7 per cent to HK$0.29.

Total trading volume of companies included in the HSI index was 3.9 billion shares.

REUTERS