Weekly Market Summary

💡1. Global stocks climbed for the second consecutive session on Wednesday, reversing recent declines prompted by concerns about the spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant. The blue-chip S&P 500 benchmark closed 1 per cent higher, led by consumer stocks, with every sector within the index in positive territory. London’s FTSE 100 climbed 0.6 %, leaving the benchmark index up 4 % so far for December. The UK’s mid-cap FTSE 250 index, which is more exposed to domestic companies, rose even further, ending the day up 1.1 %. In Asia, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng closed up 0.6 % and Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 Average added 0.2 %. Oil moved higher too, with global benchmark Brent crude rising 1.8 % to $75.29 a barrel-a three-session high.

💡2. Hong Kong stocks fell for a second straight session to a 22-month low led lower by Chinese property developers and technology giants. The Hang Seng Index retreated 1.9 % to 22,858.50 at the close of Monday trading, its lowest level since March 2020. The city’s tech gauge tumbled to its lowest since its inception in July 2020. It lost 3.2 %, dragged down by a 4.9 % decline in NetEase. JD.com tumbled 4 %, while Alibaba and Tencent lost at least 2.1 %. Major Asian markets fell. Japanese and South Korean shares lost at least 1.8 % while the Australian benchmark slipped 0.2 %.

💡3. Singapore’s US$744 billion sovereign wealth fund sees potential opportunities to do deals and buy debt in China’s battered real estate sector, confident Beijing won’t let things “spiral out of control” following several defaults. “We continue to have confidence that it is a good investment market for us,” GIC says. GIC, which has been investing in Chinese property for two decades, is also seeing potential in the hard-hit sector. The fund has recently struck deals in commercial areas like logistics, and is confident that the Chinese government can contain the fallout from the property crackdown.

💡4. Shares of most Chinese property management firms, once a darling of investors, have been beaten down in recent months as the woes of their parent companies spill over. A-Living Services, has plunged 35% in the past month in Hong Kong. Country Garden Services, has slumped 18% in the same period. Property managers are being used as a financial tool by distressed developers to bail them out of sticky situations, JP Morgan says. Beijing’s “three red lines” policy to control leverage in the property industry since August 2020 has shut indebted developers out of the domestic loan market, an important source of liquidity. As a result, some developers have since defaulted on their offshore bonds following the cash crunch. 

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One of the must-ask interview questions for banking and finance is: “Have you read any news recently?”, with the follow-up questions: “How would you link this news to the market and what investment suggestions would you give to your clients based on this news?” 

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Showing your market sense and ability to provide feasible investment ideas would help to differentiate you from other candidates. Therefore, apart from the weekly news update / investment insights, we have also generated this Weekly Market Summary for you to have a quick understanding of the market development and tips to answer some hot discussion topics. Take a look of the summary and WhatsApp us in the group if you have questions.