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Hong Kong stock market
BusinessChina Business

Tech sell-off sends Hong Kong stocks to biggest slide in 20 weeks as China signals more regulatory curbs

  • Hang Seng Index slumped 3.4 per cent for the week as China’s central bank warned more anti-monopoly actions against payments operators
  • Market trimmed some losses in Friday trading as a technical gauge signals this week’s sell-off may have been excessive

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A sell-off in Hong Kong has lopped about US$245 billion from Hang Seng Tech Index members this month. Photo: AFP
Iris Ouyang
Hong Kong stocks completed the worst week since February as Beijing tightened regulations on technology companies, and the central bank issued warning about more actions against anti-monopoly practices in the sector.
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The Hang Seng Index fell 3.4 per cent this week to 27,344.54 on Friday, with the benchmark hitting a six-month low. The last time the index had a bigger setback was in the week to February 26 when it slumped 5.4 per cent.

The local market climbed 0.7 per cent in Friday trading as the relative-strength technical indicator signaled the sell-off triggered by China’s rapid-fire curbs on national security and data privacy concerns was excessive.

While the Hang Seng Tech Index rebounded 1.5 per cent, the sector has plunged by about 10 per cent over the past two weeks. The slump has erased US$245 billion of market value off the index members this month through Thursday, and by at least US$616 billion since its peak on February 17.

Alibaba Group Holding, the owner of this newspaper, declined 0.9 per cent and Kuaishou Technology crashed 5 per cent. A number of tech giants rebounded from earlier losses with Meituan rising 4.6 per cent and Tencent Holdings gaining 2.3 per cent.

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“The HSI is temporarily out of danger” given the technical readings, said Alan Li, portfolio manager at Atta Capital. “The outlook will depend on whether there’s more regulation or whether the market has digested it well.”

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