Hong Kong stocks are not seeing much movement in their post-holiday return, with the Shanghai markets still closed and investors awaiting the U.S. jobs report due out later in the day. At this point, the Hang Seng Index is up 0.2%, with telecom shares among the weakest links.
China’s Finance Ministry announced earlier this week that the country’s telecom companies will be included in an ongoing value-added-tax trial program, starting June 1. According to the rules, China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom will all have to pay an 11% basic tax rate, as well as a 6% rate on value-added telecom services.
The trio of state-owned telecom responded Thursday by issuing warnings, saying the new scheme could affect their short-term profitability, although the negative impact might fade over the following years. And so, China Mobile is down 1.8%, China Telecom is falling 2.5%, and China Unicom is suffering a 3.9% loss.
On the other hand, tech and casino stocks are rebounding: Tencent Holdings is up 2.6%, and software provider Kingsoft Corp. is advancing 1.9%. Casino operator Wynn Macau is jumping 4.6%, and rival MGM China Holdings is up 2.6%.
As for the mainland Chinese markets, they are scheduled to resume trading Monday.
China’s Finance Ministry announced earlier this week that the country’s telecom companies will be included in an ongoing value-added-tax trial program, starting June 1. According to the rules, China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom will all have to pay an 11% basic tax rate, as well as a 6% rate on value-added telecom services.
The trio of state-owned telecom responded Thursday by issuing warnings, saying the new scheme could affect their short-term profitability, although the negative impact might fade over the following years. And so, China Mobile is down 1.8%, China Telecom is falling 2.5%, and China Unicom is suffering a 3.9% loss.
On the other hand, tech and casino stocks are rebounding: Tencent Holdings is up 2.6%, and software provider Kingsoft Corp. is advancing 1.9%. Casino operator Wynn Macau is jumping 4.6%, and rival MGM China Holdings is up 2.6%.
As for the mainland Chinese markets, they are scheduled to resume trading Monday.