Hong Kong share prices plunged 4.83 per cent yesterday, amid a weaker yen, rising interbank rates and renewed fears of a yuan devaluation, brokers said.
The Hang Seng Index shed 383.43 points to 7,552.77, its lowest level since June 16 and only 90.27 points off the year's low reached on June 15.
Brokers said the trading was jittery before the first-half results from HSBC and revised first-quarter growth figures for Hong Kong, both of which came after the market closed.
More losses were expected today after investors learned of larger than expected provisions at HSBC and a 2.8 per cent first-quarter contraction in gross domestic product instead of previously announced 2 per cent.
'It was a pretty horrible day,' SG Securities head of sales trading Miles Remington said. 'There were so many factors in the market but probably the most important was the yen slide on top of Wall Street's slide.' Wall Street closed down 1.59 per cent on Friday, while the yen fell to 145.62 yen to the dollar yesterday from 144.6 on Friday.
Currency dealers said there was a growing conviction that Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi would fail to turn Japan's economy round in the near future.
Property stocks took the biggest knock, falling 6.71 per cent as a group as three-month interbank rates rose to 9.875 per cent.
