SINGAPORE – Shares in Hong Kong fell on Thursday, and shares in the rest of Asia-Pacific also fell sharply.
Shares of Tencent and Netease in Hong Kong fell 8.48% and 11.03% respectively on Thursday, after regulatory pressures resurfaced.
Chinese state media reported that the two were part of the video game companies convened for a meeting with regulators. Topics discussed during the meeting included restrictions on play time for children.
Sentiment about the sector had another success after a report by the South China Morning Post on Thursday afternoon that the Chinese government has temporarily suspended approval of all new online games in the country.
Private education actions also suffered a beating after China’s ban on private teachers from teaching online or at unregistered places on Wednesday. Shares of New Oriental Education & Technology fell 5.45%, while smaller rival Koolearn Technology fell 4.66%.
Meanwhile, shares of Chinese group Evergrande in Hong Kong reduced previous losses to a fall of 4.31%, as uncertainty continues to surround the debt situation of the facing real estate developer.
The broadest Hang Seng index in Hong Kong fell 2.3% on the day, to 25,716.
Shares in mainland China are closing higher: the Shanghai compound rose 0.49% to 3,693.13, while the Shenzhen component rose fractionally to 14,698.53.
China’s consumer price rise rose 0.8% year-on-year in August, compared to expectations of a 1% rise in a Reuters poll. Meanwhile, the producer price index jumped 9.5% from a year ago, compared to forecasts of a 9% increase in a Reuters poll.
Elsewhere, the Nikkei 225 in Japan closed 0.57% below 30,008.19, while the Topix index fell 0.71% to 2,064.93. Kospi, South Korea, fell 1.53% to end the trading day at 3,114.70.
In Australia, the S & P / ASX 200 fell 1.9% to close at 7,369.50.
MSCI’s broader Asia-Pacific stock index outside of Japan fell 1.26%.
Overnight, the Dow and S&P 500 fell for the third day in a row, while the Nasdaq fell for its first session in five. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 68.93 points to 35,031.07, while the S&P 500 fell 0.13% to 4,514.07. The Nasdaq Composite fell 0.57% to 15,286.64.
Coins and oils
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 92.684 after rising earlier this week below 92.4.
The Japanese yen was trading at 110 per dollar, stronger than the levels around 110.4 seen yesterday against the green dollar. The Australian dollar changed hands at $ 0.7368, below the levels above the $ 0.74 seen earlier this week.
Oil prices were higher in the afternoon of business hours in Asia, and international benchmark futures on Brent crude rose 0.15% to $ 72.71 a barrel. U.S. crude futures gained about 0.1% to $ 69.34 a barrel.