China, HK stocks slip as global markets turn cautious ahead of US data

Nov 18, 2025, 11:55 GMT+7
Reuters - Mainland China and Hong Kong stocks edged lower on Tuesday, weighed down by new energy shares, as traders assessed subdued sentiment across global markets ahead of closely watched U.S. economic data.
** Both Asian and U.S. equities retreated, with investors taking a cautious stance as they await the release of delayed U.S. economic indicators that could shed light on the Federal Reserve's timeline for policy easing and influence global financial conditions.
** The data backlog, caused by the recent U.S. government shutdown, will start to clear this week, with the critical September nonfarm payrolls report scheduled for release on Thursday.
** Markets have trimmed their bets for a December Fed rate cut, pricing in just over a 40% chance of a 25-basis-point reduction, down from more than 60% earlier this month. (0#USDIRPR)
** At the midday break, the Shanghai Composite indexeased 0.56%, while the blue-chip CSI300 indexslipped 0.22%.
** New energy stocks were among the biggest losers, with the sector sub-indexfalling 2.68%.
** In Hong Kong, the benchmark Hang Seng Indexfell 1.47%, while the city's tech indexdropped 1.67%.
** Despite marginal losses on Tuesday, the SSEC has still gained more than 18% year-to-date, when the HSI witnessed an over 30% jump. And some analysts expect the upward momentum to sustain next year.
** "We expect another positive year ahead for the Chinese equities as many of the favourable drivers from 2025 should continue to support the market," said James Wang, head of China strategy at UBS Investment Bank Research, referring to factors including AI, accommodative policy and sustained fiscal expansion and ample liquidity.
** "We continue to prefer internet, hardware tech and broker names while we remove high dividend stocks as their yield has been bid down and we add select 'going abroad' stocks as global growth improves next year," Wang said.

Sumber : Reuters