Hong Kong stocks dip 3% despite China announcing further Covid easing measures

Cross-border travelers in China no longer need to show a negative Covid-19 test result, according to a release from the National Health Commission.

Areas not designated as high risk cannot stop work or production, the notice said.

Covid patients without symptoms can also choose to isolate themselves at home for five days, he said.

– Evelyn Cheng

A full reopening in China is unlikely to be seen anytime soon, economist Dan Wang of Hang Seng Bank said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia.”

“We don’t know if … ‘return to normal’ can happen, in fact, in the next six months,” he said, citing inconsistencies in policy implementation among different departments and regions.

“For example, like Taiyuan and Xi’an, their changes in Covid policy are still far behind what happened in Beijing and Shanghai,” he said.

The Reserve Bank of India delivered a 35 basis point hike following its December policy meeting, taking interest rates to 6.25%.

That followed an increase of 50 basis points in September.

Inflation eased to 6.77% in October this year on an annual basis, down from 7.41% in September. That is still above RBI’s inflation target of 4%.

– Abigail Ng

China’s reopening will be a bigger driver for oil prices that curb Russian oil, Singapore’s foreign minister Vivian Balakrishnan told CNBC on Tuesday.

“I expect to see a significant opening,” Balakrishnan said. “Now it has profound implications for the global economy, more than oil price caps.”

China’s medium- to long-term playbook should focus on increasing vaccination rates, Balakrishnan said.

“You can open yourself up if you have a high vaccination rate. So I will look to see what efforts China is making to increase vaccination of the elderly,” he added.

Read the full story here.

– Charmaine Jacob

Shares of Vietnam-listed Vingroup rose more than 5% and hovered around the highest levels seen in five months after its EV maker unit VinFast filed to go public in the US, .

VinFast, Vietnam’s only domestic automaker, plans to start delivering its electric SUV to US customers by the end of this year.

In March, the firm announced plans for a $2 billion plant in North Carolina.

– John Rosevear, Jihye Lee

China’s dollar-denominated exports fell 8.7% in November on an annual basis, falling more than expectations for a 3.5% decline, according to analysts in a Reuters poll.

Imports in US dollar terms also fell 10.6% for the month from a year ago, falling further than the 6% decline expected in a separate Reuters poll.

The country’s trade surplus reached $69.84 billion, lower than the forecast of $78.1 billion.

– Jihye Lee

Hong Kong residential property prices fell to a near five-year low as rising interest rates and a mass exodus of expatriate workers drove down prices in one of the world’s most expensive cities to work in — and there’s more room to fall.

Hong Kong’s house price index for October fell 2.4% to 352.4 from the previous month, marking the lowest level for the gauge since November 2017.

In addition, according to Natixis report, the city property prices could plunge 25% from their previous peak in 2021, before they begin to pare losses.

“The weak economic environment in Hong Kong and around the world, and rapidly rising borrowing costs are the most important contributors to the decline in real estate prices,” Nelson Wong, executive director of research at real estate firm Jones Lang LaSalle told CNBC.

—Lee Ying Shan

China’s trade data for November is expected to show further declines in both exports and imports, according to a Reuters poll of economists.

Average forecasts predict exports will fall 3.5% in November on an annual basis after a 0.3% decline in October, and imports are forecast to fall 6% after a 0.7% decline in the previous month.

The trade balance in US dollars is forecast to narrow to $78.1 billion — smaller than the previous month’s $85.15 billion.

— Jihye Lee

It’s time to rethink bonds, according to the BlackRock Investment Institute, which says “the allure of fixed income is strong” now.

“Higher yields are a gift to investors who have long been starved of income. And investors don’t have to go far up the risk spectrum to receive them,” Philipp Hildebrand, vice chairman of BlackRock, and Jean Boivin, head of the BlackRock Investment Institute, wrote in a note last week .

They outline their best ways to cash in.

Pro customers can read more here.

— Zavier Ong

Australia’s economy expanded by 0.6% from the previous quarter, official data showed – missing estimates of the 0.7% quarterly growth predicted in a Reuters poll.

The latest gross domestic product showed weaker growth than the second quarter expansion of 0.9% from the first three months of the year.

On an annual basis, GDP in the third quarter added 5.9%, which the Australian Bureau of Statistics said reflected “sustained economic growth since the impact of the Delta outbreak in the September quarter of 2021.”

“Growth was largely driven by strength in household spending,” he added.

The annual figure also missed expectations in a separate Reuters poll for a 6.2% gain.

Australian dollars little changed after the report and S&P/ASX 200 maintained 0.7% lower.

– Abigail Ng

Shares of the global airline company are expected to jump as much as 55% in the next year, according to UBS.

The investment bank raised its price target after the pan-European airline said it expected to see high demand over Christmas.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

– Ganesh Rao

Shares fell on Tuesday, building on losses from the previous session.

The S&P 500 shed 1.44% to close at 3,941.26, while the Nasdaq Composite slipped 2% to close at 11,014.89. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 350.76 points, or 1.03%, to close at 33,596.34.

— Samantha Subin

Oil prices fell on Tuesday, weighed down by economic uncertainty despite Russia’s oil price cap and a potential increase in demand following China’s reopening.

US West Texas Intermediate crude for January delivery was down more than 4% at $73.85 by midday Tuesday. Brent crude for February delivery fell 4.34% to $79.09 a barrel.

The US also said it sees oil production rising next year, reversing its outlook for the future after five months of cuts. A monthly report from the Energy Information Administration said production is expected to reach 12.34 million barrels per day in 2023, more than the daily record of 12.315 million barrels per day in 2019.

—Carmen Reinicke

American consumers are still doing well and supporting the US economy, but that may change next year, according to JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon.

Consumers have $1.5 trillion in excess savings from the pandemic stimulus program and are spending 10% more than in 2021, he said Tuesday on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”

“Inflation is eroding everything I just said, and that trillion and a half dollars will be gone by the middle of next year,” Dimon said. “When you look ahead, that could very well affect the economy and cause a mild or severe recession that people are worried about.”

Dimon also weighed in on cryptocurrencies, the need for fossil fuels and other topics during the wide-ranging interview.

– Hugh the Son