Hong Kong Stocks Declined as Situation Remains Complicated 

On Thursday, Hong Kong stocks dropped, with shares in the rest of Asia-Pacific also largely falling.  

Hong Kong-listed shares of Tencent and Netease fell 5.7% and 6.98%, respectively, by Thursday afternoon after Chinese state media reported that two were among video game summoned to a meeting with regulators. 

Topics during the meeting included requiring firms to limit the gaming time for minors and forbid any form of “account renting services” for minors. The country’s National Press and Publication Administration published new rules regarding video games in August. Kids and teens under 18 years old can only play online games for three hours per week. 

Private education stocks also suffered losses on Wednesday. China decided to ban private tutors from giving classes online or in unregistered venues. In 2021, authorities also banned for-profit tutoring in subjects on the school curriculum to ease pressure on children and parents. 

China’s decision affected private education stocks. Koolearn Technology’s stock dropped 5.18%, and New Oriental Education & Technology fell 6.67%.  

On Wednesday, shares of China Evergrande Group in Hong Kong fell more than 9%. The property developer’s debt situation continues to affect its shares. 

Mainland Chinese stocks

Mainland Chinese stocks were mixed on Thursday. The Shanghai composite hovered fractionally higher while the Shenzhen component dropped 0.628%.

The consumer price index in China rose 0.8% year-on-year in August. During the same period, the producer price index jumped 9.5% from a year ago. 

On Thursday, the broader Hang Seng index in Hong Kong fell 1.6%.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 declined 0.46%, while the Topix index fell 0.48%.

South Korea’s Kospi dropped 0.9%. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 declined by 1.41%. 

One day earlier, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 69.93 points to 35,031.07. The S&P 500 fell 0.1% to 4,514.07. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped more than 260 points on Tuesday, adding to Friday’s losses after a disappointing August jobs report. 

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 and Dow Jones fell for the third day in a row as investors reassessed the economic growth outlook following a smooth ride in the market so far in 2021. The Nasdaq Composite declined nearly 0.6% to 15,286.64, dropping for the first session in five. 

 Furthermore, September’s outlook remains clouded due to the coronavirus delta variant. As of September 8, the S&P is down by about 0.2% this month, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.9%. The Nasdaq Composite rose nearly 0.2% in September.