Hong Kong stocks drop nearly 2%; China holds steady on benchmark lending rate

Shares in Asia-Pacific fell in Friday trade as China left its benchmark lending rate unchanged. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index plunged 1.83% in afternoon trade, with Chinese tech shares largely continuing to see another day of heavy losses as regulatory uncertainty surrounding the sector lingers. Shares of Meituan dropped 3.9% while Alibaba fell 2.28% and JD.com declined 1.7%. Tencent, on the other hand, rose 1.57%. The Hang Seng Tech index shed 2.2%.

Mainland Chinese stocks fell as the Shanghai composite declined more than 1% and the Shenzhen component slipped 1.832%. China’s one-year loan prime rate (LPR) and five-year LPR were both left unchanged at 3.85% and 4.65%, respectively, on Friday. That was in line with expectations of majority of traders and analysts in a snap poll, according to Reuters.

The Nikkei 225 in Japan fell 0.98% to close at 27,013.25 while the Topix index shed 0.87% to end the trading day at 1,880.68. Japanese automaker shares continued to see losses on Friday, with Toyota Motor falling 4.09% while Nissan Motor dropped 7.25% and Honda Motor declined 4.84%.

That came following Toyota’s Thursday announcement that it will slash global production for September by 40% from its previous plan, Reuters reported. Shares of Toyota plunged more than 4% on Thursday after the Nikkei first reported on the firm’s plan. Elsewhere, South Korea’s Kospi declined 1.2% while the S&P/ASX 200 in Australia closed fractionally lower at 7,460.90.

Hong Kong stocks drop nearly 2%; China holds steady on benchmark lending rate, CNBC, Aug 20