The Hang Seng Index could slide as much as 1,000 points today as jittery investors sell stocks after markets in the US and Europe slumped on fears that economic growth is weakening, fund managers say.
'Hong Kong's American depositary receipts fell about 3 to 8 per cent last Friday in the US, so I expect the Hang Seng Index may fall to 28,500 points,' said Michael Wong, research director of Hantec Investment International.
Fund managers said the market was bracing for a plunge today after having the weekend to digest the news from the US. Analysts also said it was time the market consolidated after sharp gains in recent weeks.
The Hang Seng Index closed up 166.34 points on Thursday at 29,465.05 after briefly breaching the 30,000-point mark for the first time. The market was closed on Friday.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 366.94 points, or 2.64 per cent, on Friday, while the Nasdaq dropped 2.65 per cent. American depository receipts of PetroChina fell 7 per cent in New York, while China Mobile's fell about 4 per cent and HSBC's fell 2.99 per cent.
'The Hang Seng Index may fall at least 600 to 700 points,' Ben Kwong Man-bun, the chief operating officer at KGI Securities, said. 'A significant correction is healthy to the stock market because upward momentum still exists.'