FX.co ★ Hong Kong Shares Extend Falls to Start the Week

Hong Kong's stock market experienced a decline of 35 points, or 0.12%, falling to 24,829 during Monday's morning trading session. This marks a continued downturn for the second consecutive session, attributed primarily to losses in technology and consumer stocks. Investors displayed caution ahead of the Tuesday deadline for China to finalize a sustainable tariff agreement with the Trump administration. Additionally, it was reported that Beijing is pressuring Washington to relax export controls on high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, which are vital for artificial intelligence technology, as part of the ongoing discussions before a potential summit between Trump and Xi later this year. Market participants were also anticipating important U.S. inflation data due this week. In China, producer prices experienced their 34th consecutive monthly decline in July, mirroring the sharpest drop observed in two years. However, a stronger-than-expected consumer price index (CPI), bolstered by government subsidies for consumer goods, helped prevent further market declines. Notable early laggards included Akeso, down 4.6%, Innovent Biologics, down 3.0%, Hansoh Pharma, down 2.5%, Trip.com, down 3.1%, SMIC, down 2.3%, and Kuaishou Technology, down 1.3%.