HK Stock Market Move | Gambling stocks fell again, Morgan Stanley expects gambling revenue to slow starting in May, and EBITDA growth will be negative in the second and third quarters.

Gambling stocks fell again, as of press time, Sands China (01928) fell by 3.96% to 26.27 Hong Kong dollars; SJM Holdings (00880) fell by 3.24% to 2.09 Hong Kong dollars; Melco Int'l Dev (00200) fell by 3.17% to 3.67 Hong Kong dollars; Galaxy Ent (00027) fell by 2.65% to 34.5 Hong Kong dollars. Citigroup released a research report indicating that industry data shows that Macau's gambling revenue for the first 22 days of March reached approximately 15.6 billion Macau dollars, which means the average daily gambling revenue for the past week was about 721 million Macau dollars, an increase of about 3% from the week of March 9, and an increase of about 14% from March last year. The bank maintains its forecast that Macau's gambling revenue in March will reach 22 billion Macau dollars. Morgan Stanley, on the other hand, stated that Macau gambling stocks are expected to underperform the broader market in the short term, with the prediction that Macau's gambling revenue will only increase by 6% this year, and EBITDA will only increase by 2%, below market expectations and weakening year-on-year. Due to the impact of base effects on gambling revenue in the second half of the year, growth will slow down, and the fundamentals in the middle zone will remain weak. The bank expects that gambling revenue will slow down year-on-year starting in May, and the second and third quarters will see negative EBITDA growth.