Published on 09/17/2026 at 01:15 am EDT
(Reuters) - China and Hong Kong stock benchmarks declined on Thursday, with rate-sensitive sectors, including gold, non-ferrous metals and properties, slipping after the U.S. raised interest rates for the first time in three years.
** China's blue-chip CSI300 Index and the Shanghai Composite Index dipped 0.4% each by the lunch break.
** Hong Kong benchmark Hang Seng fell 0.8%.
** The Federal Reserve raised interest rates on Wednesday and flagged more hikes in the coming months, setting a more hawkish tone than markets expected.
** In China, CSI gold equities slumped 5%, while non-ferrous metal shares dropped 3%.
** Hong Kong's property firms declined 1.9%.
** The city raised its base interest rate by 25 basis points to 4.25% on Thursday, tracking the Fed hike.
** On the other hand, biotech and semiconductor shares outperformed in both markets.
** Analysts prefer China A-shares over Hong Kong shares for the rest of the year given they have more exposure to AI hardware and related supply chain.
** Due to the consumer-facing nature of leading internet companies listed in Hong Kong, the city's stocks are more susceptible to weak domestic consumption, they said.
** A sustained and meaningful rebound in Hong Kong stocks requires catalysts such as fiscal stimulus or a "DeepSeek moment," said Kevin Liu, chief offshore China and overseas strategist at CICC .
** The smaller Shenzhen index was down 0.24%, the start-up board ChiNext Composite index was weaker by 0.12% and Shanghai's tech-focused

STAR

50 index was down 0.39%.
(Reporting by Summer Zhen; Editing by Harikrishnan Nair)

Sumber : Reuters