Hong Kong stocks trade flat ahead of Sunday's Greek austerity vote
In contrast to big intraday swings on mainland markets this week, city's key index ends down 2.2pc as investors shift to banks and oil majors
Hong Kong stocks were virtually flat on Friday as caution prevailed ahead of Greece's much-anticipated referendum on Sunday.
The Hang Seng Index edged down 0.83 per cent, or 218 points, to 26,064 at close. In contrast to big intraday swings in mainland markets in the past week, the city's key gauge finished the week down 2.2 per cent from the previous week, as investors moved from high-valued property stocks in favour of large-cap banks and oil majors.
The Shanghai market dropped 12 per cent and Shenzhen lost 15 per cent this week as mainland stocks entered the third week of correction.
Property stocks in Hong Kong finished mostly lower. State-owned China Resources Land dropped the most, losing 4 per cent to HK$23.85, while another state-owned developer, China Overseas Land, fell 2.4 per cent to HK$27.
Shares in the country's big-three oil majors, including PetroChina, Sinopec, and CNOOC rallied up between 0.5 and 0.7 per cent as investors looked for safe-haven stocks to escape the uncertainties in the global markets.
Shares in Industrial and Commercial Bank of China rose 1 per cent to HK$6.21.
The H-share index, which tracks large mainland companies listed in Hong Kong, dropped 1.37 per cent, or 175.67 points, to finish at 12,608.98, dragged down by electric carmaker BYD, brokerage Haitong Securities and insurer New China Life. Each of them shed more than 5 per cent.
"The investing public in Hong Kong is more cautious than their mainland counterparts as external shocks from the Greek crisis and the US Federal Reserve's looming interest rate hikes should be more relevant to the regional stock markets and Hong Kong," said Ben Kwong Man-bun, the head of research at brokerage KGI Asia.
He added that Hong Kong-traded shares are fairly inexpensive at this juncture compared with other developed markets and China's two bourses.
Hong Kong stocks are currently priced 11 times their earnings, compared with a 15 to 17 times in case of US and European stocks, according to Barings Asset Management.
Small-cap stocks remained highly volatile. Property management firm Synergis Holdings crashed 24.9 per cent to HK$1.83 after the firm was implicated in a HK$45 million bribe-for-contract hearing at the High Court on Friday.
According to court documents, a sub-contractor allegedly offered bribes to Synergis employees in return for helping the sub-contractor win a HK$260 million residential real estate renovation project called Garden Vista in Sha Tin.
Elsewhere in the region, Japan's Topix index added 0.2 per cent to 1,652.09 at close, posting a 0.9 per cent decline this week. The Nikkei 225 index edged up 0.1 per cent to 20,539.79, with a weekly decline of 0.8 per cent this week.
Investors in the region seemed unmoved by the prospect of the Federal Reserve starting to raise rates as early as September, as the market consensus is that a return of Federal rate rises will take place gradually either later this year or early next year.
US markets were closed on Friday. Traders will be eagerly awaiting the results of the Greek referendum on Sunday that could well determine the fate of the euro zone.
