20.01.202602:32:00UTC+00Hong Kong Shares Retreat for 4th Session

In early Tuesday trading, Hong Kong stocks dropped by 172 points, or 0.7%, reaching 26,392, continuing their downward trend for a fourth consecutive session. This decline came amid a significant decrease in U.S. futures following President Trump's threat to implement new tariffs on European countries rejecting his proposal to purchase Greenland. Concurrently, Chinese mainland markets saw a decline after recent data indicated that the economy slowed in the fourth quarter of 2025, with growth at 4.5% year-on-year, marking the slowest increase in three years. This slowdown is a result of consistently weak domestic demand, despite ongoing policy support from Beijing. Nonetheless, losses were somewhat limited after the People’s Bank of China maintained its key lending rates at historic lows for the eighth straight month, following prior cuts to relending and rediscount rates. The technology and consumer sectors suffered the most, but slight increases in property stocks helped curb further losses. Early underperformers included China Hongqiao Group (down 3.7%), Zhaojin Mining (down 2.9%), Techtronic Industries (down 2.4%), and SMIC (down 1.9%).