HONG KONG: Hong Kong stocks plunged 3.18 per cent by noon, with big-name firms taking a heavy hit, as Greece’s “No” vote to further austerity overshadowed news China had unveiled fresh measures to support slumping mainland markets.
The Hang Seng Index fell 829.36 points to 25,234.75 by the break on turnover of $HK107.33 billion ($A18.51bn).
Traders in the financial hub tracked a near eight per cent surge in Shanghai in the first few minutes that came after Chinese leaders unveiled their biggest package of measures so far to shore up slumping mainland markets.
On Sunday, the government said the central bank would provide liquidity through the state-backed China Securities Finance Co, which manages margin trading.
And market watchdog the China Securities Regulatory Commission said there would be no initial public offerings (IPOs) “in the near future”.
On Saturday China’s 21 largest brokerage firms said they would invest at least 120bn yuan ($A26.0bn) in so-called “blue chip” exchange traded funds (ETFs).
However, the initial gains were quickly pared and Shanghai closed the morning 2.15 per cent higher as analysts questioned the likely effectiveness of the measures.
And the gains in Hong Kong soon turned to losses as the morning progressed with the focus moving to Europe, where Greece overwhelmingly voted “No” to a creditors’ bailout package, which analysts says has made its eurozone exit more likely.
