Banks with reported links to Huishan Dairy mostly lower

Shares of companies with reported links to China Huishan Dairy, including a handful of major Chinese banks, have mostly traded lower today as investors continue to assess the fallout from the company’s sudden 90 per cent plunge on Friday.

Ping An Bank, a Chinese subsidiary of Hong Kong-listed Ping An Insurance this morning clarified its exposure to Huishan Dairy in a statement to the Hong Kong Exchange.

Shenzhen-listed Ping An Bank was down 0.7 per cent in the morning session, while shares in its Hong Kong-listed parent overcame an early fall to trade 0.5 per cent higher.

Ping An has an indirect interest in Huishan Dairy of about 25 per cent. Ping An could take a 2 per cent hit to pre-tax profits in the 2017 financial year if it takes a one-off 100 per cent impairment, wrote Leon Qi at Daiwa Capital Markets in a note.

According to Caixin, the Chinese news magazine, the dramatic fall in Huishan Dairy’s share price on Friday followed a meeting the previous afternoon with 23 creditor banks discussing the company’s financial position. Some of the lenders included Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Agricultural Bank of China and Bank of China.

In Hong Kong, shares in ICBC and BoC were both down 0.8 per cent going in to the lunchtime break in the territory. The China-listed shares of Ag Bank were up 0.6 per cent, but its Hong Kong-listed stock was down by as much.

China Mengniu Dairy, a Hong Kong-listed rival, was down 1.3 per cent, making it one of the worst performers in the Hang Seng benchmark. Shares had been down as much as 3 per cent earlier today.

The Hang Seng was down 0.3 per cent, while China’s Shanghai Composite was up 0.1 per cent and the Shenzhen Composite was down 0.3 per cent.

Since requesting a trading halt on Friday, Huishan Dairy has yet to release a follow-up statement to the HKEx.