KGI Asia Commentary
The Hang Seng Index fell 110 points last Friday
The Hang Seng Index opened 73 points lower on last Friday morning at 16,573 points, the day's decline expanded to 110 points, or 0.66%, to 16,535 points; the H-Share Index fell 42 points, or 0.7%, to 5,607 points; the Hang Seng Technology Index fell 62 points or 1.7%, at 3,592 points. The total daily turnover of the market was HK$81.8 billion. Ctrip (9961) has signed contracts for more than 2,100 stores in 2023, much higher than the record of 1,375 stores in 2019. The stock price rose 2.8% on Friday.
U.S. non-farm payroll data exceeds expectations
U.S. stocks closed higher on Friday. The Dow Jones index rose 25.77 points, or 0.07%, to 37466.11 points; the Nasdaq index rose 13.77 points, or 0.09%, to 14524.07 points; the S&P 500 index rose 8.56 points, or 0.18%, reported 4697.24 points. But all three major stock indexes posted losses this week, ending a nine-week streak of gains. Last week, the Nasdaq fell 3.25%, the S&P 500 fell 1.52%, and the Dow fell 0.59%.
In terms of economic data, the U.S. Department of Labor released closely watched non-farm payrolls data for December on Friday. Nonfarm payrolls data showed that U.S. employers added 216,000 jobs in December, far exceeding the 170,000 average estimate of economists surveyed by Dow Jones and a significant increase from November's data. Nonfarm payroll employment data for November was revised down to 173,000. The unemployment rate held steady at 3.7%, below expectations of 3.8%. The employment data once again showed that the market has not yet cooled down, undermining market expectations for a significant interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve.
After the release of non-farm payroll data, U.S. Treasury bond yields climbed, with the 10-year Treasury bond yield once exceeding 4.1%. The yield on 2-year Treasury bonds rose as high as 4.494%.
The People's Bank of China held a meeting last week
The People's Bank of China held its 2024 work conference on Thursday and Friday last week, in which it pointed out that monetary policy must be flexible, precise, and maintain liquidity to ensure rapid growth in social financing. It was mentioned that the money supply indicated by the central government earlier was consistent with the expected goals of economic growth and price levels. It also mentioned the need to improve the convenience for foreign investors to participate in China's bond market and promote the healthy development of the offshore RMB market.
Hong Kong Stock Connect saw a net inflow of HK$1.61 billion on Friday. Among them, Tracker Fund (2800) had the largest net inflow, reaching HK$1.34 billion; followed by CNOOC (883). Tencent (700) recorded the largest net outflow of HK$1.3 billion; followed by Agricultural Bank of China (1288).
Wen Kit Kenny is a SFC licensed person accredited to KGI Group to carry on regulated activities (for details, please refer to:https://apps.sfc.hk/publicregWeb/indi/AJF244/details). He and/or his associate do not have any financial interest in the recommended issuer or new listing applicant.
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