HSI nosedives more than 1,000 points in Asia rout

mary


  • 2021-02-26 HKT 16:39″ title=”A rout on Wall Street sparked by rate concerns spilled over to Asia on Friday. Image: Shutterstock”>


    A rout on Wall Street sparked by rate concerns spilled over to Asia on Friday. Image: Shutterstock
    A rout on Wall Street sparked by rate concerns spilled over to Asia on Friday. Image: Shutterstock

Hong Kong and regional stocks took a beating on Friday, as rising US Treasury yields sparked fears that economic recovery could fan higher inflation and force central banks to hike interest rates.

Following big overnight losses on Wall Street, the Hang Seng Index was in negative territory all day, with selling intensifying in the afternoon.

It tumbled 1,093 points, or 3.6 percent to finish at 28,980, on turnover of HK$320.2 billion.

Local shares lost 5.4 percent for the week but gained 2.5 percent for the month.

Leading Friday’s losses, the Hang Seng Tech Index sank 5.7 percent.

The day’s biggest blue-chip loser was Meituan. The mainland shopping and food delivery platform slid 8.2 percent.

Tencent, Xiaomi and Alibaba each fell between 4 and 6 percent.

Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing slipped 5.3 percent.

Across the border, the Shanghai Composite Index declined 2.1 percent, while the blue-chip CSI300 index shed 2.4 percent. The Shenzhen Composite gave up 1.8 percent.

It was a similar story across the region. The Nikkei in Japan dropped 4 percent, Seoul’s Kospi was down 2.8 percent, Taiwan lost 3 percent, Australia dipped 2.4 percent and Singapore trimmed almost 1 percent.