XPEV - Hong Kong Stocks Tumble Over Ugly Chinese Housing Data; EV Makers Plunge After Tesla's Earnings Disappointment | Benzinga
Shares in Hong Kong and China dropped Thursday on a slew of bad economic data from the housing and financial sector.
The Hang Seng Index fell 2.5% to 17,295.89 points and China’s CSI 300 index ended the day 2.1% lower at 3,533.54 points.
September’s housing prices in China fell the fastest they have in 11 months, down 0.3% across 70 mainland cities and 0.48% lower for secondary market sales, representing the largest one month drop in secondary sales recorded since 2014. The value of the real estate sector overall shrunk by 2.7% in the third quarter.
Chinese-language daily Caixin reported that investment in the Chinese housing sector plunged 9.1% in the first 9 months of this year, representing an even bigger drop than for the first 8 months.
The data comes on the back of the first default on US dollar bonds a day earlier by Country Garden Holdings Limited (OTC: CTRYF), China’s largest property firm by developments. Country Gardens has said that it does not think it will be able to maintain timely interest payments on its $10 billion of junk bonds, which are trading under 4 cents on the dollar now.
Country Garden denied a rumor going around trading desks Thursday morning that its founder Yeung Kwok-keung and chairman Hang Huiyang, who is Yeung’s daughter, had fled China after the company missed the interest payment Wednesday. The company threatened to take legal action against rumor-mongers.
Country Garden was around 3% lower, while China Evergrande Group (OTC: EGRNQ) was down nearly 4% and Sunac China Holdings Limited (OTC: SNCNQ) tumbled 4.6% by the end of the day’s trading in Hong Kong.
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