Staff reporter and agencies

Cryptocurrency prices have not spiked up although US presidential candidate Donald Trump said he would pick regulators friendly to the sector.

That comes as Bright Smart Securities & Commodities (1428) founder Peter Yip Mow-lum said he expected the Hang Seng Index to struggle between 17,000 and 18,000 points at the end of this year.

Trump said in a bitcoin conference on Saturday that he would fire the Securities and Exchange Commission chairman and pick crypto-friendly regulators if he is elected in a bid to court the sector and harness its growing influence.

Bitcoin was down 0.25 percent at one stage to US$67,727 (HK$528,270) apiece yesterday.

Meanwhile, China Evergrande New Energy Vehicle Group (0708) said two of its Guangdong subsidiaries are the target of bankruptcy and reorganization applications by creditors, which can have a “material impact” on production and operations.

Fuyao Glass Industry Group (3606) said US agencies searched its Ohio subsidiary on July 26 as part of an ongoing probe into a third-party labor services company.