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Hong Kong stocks rise on Budweiser earnings, mainland liquidity while CanSino drags vaccine makers lower on patent risks

  • Hang Seng Index added 0.8 per cent as Budweiser surged by the most since November on earnings turnaround
  • Vaccine stocks plunged following support from Biden’s team for a proposal to waive intellectual protections to help fight the global pandemic

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People wearing face masks walk past a bank's electronic board showing the Hang Seng Index in Central, Hong Kong in May last year. Photo: AP
Martin Choi
Hong Kong stocks gained as Budweiser Brewing Company surged after earnings rebounded last quarter and returning mainland Chinese traders handed the market a liquidity boost. Vaccine makers tanked after the US backed waiving patent and other rights to Covid-19 jabs, threatening profit outlook.

The Hang Seng advanced 0.8 per cent to 28,637.46. The Shanghai Composite slipped 0.2 per cent at the close of trading, while the CSI 300 index of the biggest stocks in Shanghai and Shenzhen tumbled 1.2 per cent, pummelled by deep losses in local vaccine makers.

Budweiser soared 4.9 per cent to HK$25.50 for its biggest one-day gain in more than five months, after rising as much as 9.1 per cent. Asia-Pacific’s biggest brewer by sales recorded US$233 million of earnings last quarter, reversing a US$41 million loss a year earlier, according to an exchange filing on Thursday.

Xiaomi gained 3.2 per cent to HK$25.50. Zeng Xuezhong, head of its smartphones unit, said in a Weibo post on Thursday that Xiaomi climbed to the second spot in terms of unit share in Europe for the first time last quarter and surpassing Apple.

Trading volume amounted to HK$161 billion on Thursday, according to exchange data, versus the daily average of HK$96 billion in the previous three days this week when mainland markets were shut for Labour Day.

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