Hong Kong stocks led declines in the Asia-Pacific region on Thursday as Xpeng led electric vehicle stocks lower, while investors digested high-level discussions between the United States and China.
The Hang Seng index fell 1.46%, after gaining 3.92% in the previous session.
Hong Kong-listed shares of Xpeng dropped 4.16% after the Chinese EV company reported a wider quarterly loss.
U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping met Wednesday outside of San Francisco in their first face-to-face meeting in a year. The talks were on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation conference and were a part of efforts between the U.S. and China to boost high-level communication amid continued tensions.
Separately, the South Korea stock markets opened an hour later than usual, at 10 a.m. local time. The delayed open was intended to ease rush-hour traffic as college entrance exams were administrated across the country.
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South Korea’s Kospi was 0.06% higher at 2,488.11, while the Kosdaq was 0.22% up at 811.11.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 dipped 0.28% down at 33,424.41 and the Topix lower by 0.19% at 2,368.62.
Mainland China’s CSI 300 dropped 0.97% to 3,572.36.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.67% to close at 7,058.40.
| TICKER | COMPANY | NAME | PRICE | CHANGE | %CHANGE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| .N225 | Nikkei 225 Index | *NIKKEI | 32791.8 | 483.94 | 1.5 |
| .HSI | Hang Seng Index | *HSI | 16201.49 | -132.88 | -0.81 |
| .AXJO | S&P/ASX 200 | *ASX 200 | 7199 | 4.1 | 0.06 |
| .SSEC | Shanghai | *SHANGHAI | 2991.44 | 21.88 | 0.74 |
| .KS11 | KOSPI Index | *KOSPI | 2525.36 | 7.51 | 0.3 |
| .FTFCNBCA | CNBC 100 ASIA IDX | *CNBC 100 | 8338.17 | -3.52 | -0.04 |
Overnight, U.S. stocks climbed, building on the strong rally from Tuesday, on the back of more encouraging inflation data.
The S&P 500 advanced 0.16%, while the Nasdaq Composite inched higher by 0.07%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 163.51 points, or 0.47%.
The Dow rose for the fourth straight session.