Macau gaming stocks plummet again as $4.4 B wiped from market cap

The Hong Kong-listed entities of all six Macau casino concessionaires plummeted in the 72 hours between trading close on Friday and trading close on Monday, the most substantial being Wynn Macau Ltd which saw its share price fall by 13.2% to HK$5.12. The Wynn Macau share price had been at HK$15.82 exactly one year ago on 15 March 2021.

All but one of Macau’s “Big Six” lost more than 10% of their value since Friday close, with Galaxy Entertainment Group the only exception – down 5.0% to HK$39.00. SJM Holdings fell 12.3% to HK$3.21, Sands China by 11.6% to HK$15.56, Melco International Development by 11.5% to HK$5.94 and MGM China by 10.4% to HK$4.06.

In total, the combined market cap of the six companies fell by 8.7% or HK$35.0 billion (US$4.5 billion) to HK$365.2 billion (US$46.7 billion).

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index also fell 4.97% over the same 72-hour period to 19,531.66. Apart from the second half of 2011 and the month of February 2016, the Hang Seng has not been under 20,000 points since the 2008/2009 Global Financial Crisis.

The rapid decline has been attributed to a number of factors, including the war in Ukraine, which has negatively impacted stock prices globally, and the spread of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 through both Hong Kong and mainland China. The mainland is currently experiencing its worst outbreak since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

As reported by IAG, the tech city of Shenzhen, home to 17.5 million people, was placed into a 7-day lockdown late Sunday. Jilin province was also placed into lockdown on Monday as China reported 1,437 new cases. It is being reported that around 51 million people are currently in lockdown nationwide as China continues to pursue a zero-COVID policy.

There were another 26,908 cases in Hong Kong on Monday, representing a decline from more than 32,000 cases reported Sunday.

By Ben Blaschke