TOKYO – Hong Kong’s share benchmark has fallen more than 9% as traders dumped shares following recent sharp gains.
The Hang Seng index lost 9.4% to close at 20,926.79. Technology and China-related shares led the decline.
Hong Kong shares had logged strong gains over the past week while markets in mainland China were closed for a weeklong holiday. The advances were fueled by recent announcements of plans by Beijing for more support for the economy and for financial markets.
Shares initially soared in Shanghai on Tuesday but then gave up a chunk of those gains as details of economic stimulus plans from officials in Beijing fell short of what investors were hoping for. Shares elsewhere in Asia declined.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
Shares soared Tuesday in Shanghai as Chinese markets reopened after a weeklong holiday but then gave up a chunk of their initial gains as the details of Beijing’s plans to revive the world’s second-largest economy appeared to fall flat.
The Shanghai Composite index was up 3.1% at 3,438.16, though in Shenzhen, Japan’s smaller market, the main index gained 6.2%.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng sank 7.6% to 21,336.70 as traders, apparently underwhelmed by the update from Beijing, sold to lock in profits from recent gains.
The Shanghai benchmark initially gained 10% but fell back as officials of China’s main economic planning agency briefed reporters about a slew of policies announced earlier that were meant to address various problems such as a protracted slump in the property market.
“China’s markets rally has hit a wall, leaving investors deflated. The reopening surge from the week-long holiday barely had time to gather steam before fizzling out, and now the once-thrilled bulls are licking their wounds,” Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a commentary.
Elsewhere in Asia, markets were mostly lower.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index lost 1.3% to 38,842.75. as the dollar fell to 147.89 Japanese yen from 148.18 yen. A weaker yen tends to push share prices higher.
The Kospi in Seoul declined 0.4% to 2,599.96. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 dropped 0.4% to 8,176.90.
On Monday, U.S. stocks slid after Treasury yields hit their highest levels since the summer and oil prices continued to climb.
The S&P 500 dropped 1% to 5,695.94 and is still close to its all-time high set a week earlier. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.9% to 41,954.24, coming off its own record. The Nasdaq composite sank 1.2% to 17,923.90.
It’s a stall for U.S. stocks after they rallied to records on relief that interest rates are finally heading back down, now that the Federal Reserve has widened its focus to include keeping the economy humming instead of just fighting high inflation. A blowout report on U.S. jobs growth released Friday raised optimism about the economy and hopes that the Fed can pull off a perfect landing for it.
When Treasury bonds, which are seen as the safest possible investments, are paying more in interest, investors become less inclined to pay very high prices for stocks and other things that carry bigger risk of losing money.
It’s more difficult to look attractive to investors seeking income when a 10-year Treasury is paying a 4.02% yield, up from 3.97% late Friday and from 3.62% three weeks ago.
The yield on the two-year Treasury, which more closely tracks expectations for the Fed, jumped more on Monday. It rose to 3.99% from 3.92% late Friday.
Treasury yields may also be feeling upward push from the recent jump in oil prices. Crude prices have been spurting higher on worries that worsening tensions in the Middle East could ultimately lead to disruptions in the flow of oil.
Brent crude, the international standard, shed $1.23 to $79.70 per barrel. It had jumped 3.7% Monday. Benchmark U.S. crude, meanwhile, slipped $1.21 to $75.93. It also gained 3.7% on Monday.
Stocks that are seen as the most expensive can feel the most downward pressure from higher Treasury yields, and the spotlight has been on Big Tech stocks. They drove the majority of the S&P 500’s returns in recent years and soared to heights that critics called overdone.
Apple fell 2.3%, Amazon dropped 3% and Alphabet sank 2.4% to act as some of Monday’s heaviest weights on the S&P 500.
An exception was Nvidia, which rose another 2.3%. It rode another upswell in excitement about artificial-intelligence technology after Super Micro Computer soared 15.8% after saying it recently shipped more than 100,000 graphics processing units with liquid cooling.
If Treasury yields keep rising, companies will likely need to deliver bigger profits to drive their stock prices much higher, and this week marks the start of the latest corporate earnings reporting season.
Analysts say earnings per share grew 4.2% during the summer for S&P 500 companies from a year earlier, led by technology and health care companies, according to FactSet. If those analysts are correct, it would be a fifth straight quarter of growth.
In other dealings early Tuesday, the euro rose to $1.0982 from $1.0977.
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AP Business Writer Stan Choe in New York contributed.
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