Hong Kong stocks fell after some company insiders cut their stakes in Meituan and JD Health
Neil Shen, independent non-executive director of Meituan (HK: 3690), sold about 43 million of the company’s shares late last month for HKD 6.23 billion (USD 0.8 billion), resulting in a plunge in stock price of 4.6% to HKD 164.50, according to stock exchange filings.
The transaction reduces the shareholding ratio of the managing partner of Sequoia China from 3.98% to 3.19%.
Meanwhile, Richard Liu, founder of JD.com, also sold about 8.8 million shares of JD Health (HK: 6618) for HKD 0.44 billion in two separate deals over the past week, causing JD Health’s share price to plummet 13% to HKD 43.60, according to stock exchange disclosure. Liu's stake declined from 68.94% to 68.66%.
Stanley Chan, research director of Emperor Capital, said that since these major shareholders cash out these stocks, the market sentiment is getting worse, leading to a pressure for a sell-off.
At the end of the trading day on May 5, the Hang Seng Index dropped 0.36% to 20793.40, bringing the decline to about 11% this year, while the Tech Index dipped 0.14%.