HONG KONG: Losses in Hong Kong stocks accelerated in Wednesday’s afternoon trading session with a sell-off in this year’s best-performers including Geely Automobile Holdings, Ping An Insurance and AAC Technologies, forcing the benchmark index to post its biggest daily decline in a year. Mainland China stocks dropped amid worries the regulators are escalating their crackdown on securities manipulation.
The Hang Seng Index tumbled 2.14 per cent, or 618 points, to 28,224.80, its worst daily drop since November 11, 2016, while the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index, or the H-share gauge, fell 2.8 per cent, its biggest fall in 13 months. The mainland’s key Shanghai Composite Index fell to its lowest level in over three months.
“Investors are turning on their risk-aversion mode as Hong Kong stocks are under the double pressure from the mainland and the US,” said Ken Chen, a strategist at KGI Securities in Shanghai. A sell-off over recent weeks has sent the Hang Seng Index down 7 per cent from its peak on November 22 and its highest level in a decade. The gauge is still up 28 per cent so far this year and is Asia’s best-performing major stock market.
