Hong Kong markets close at 14-month low as regional stocks pounded
Pounding on markets in the mainland and region-wide leaves investors on edge as index suffers worst weekly performance in four years
Six consecutive days of falls pushed Hong Kong's benchmark Hang Seng Index to its lowest close in 14 months yesterday, with investors on edge following heavy losses on the mainland and around the region.
Down 6.59 per cent for the week, its worst weekly performance since September 2011, the Hang Seng Index fell 2.5 per cent at one point in volatile trading yesterday before a last-minute surge carried the benchmark index to 22,409.62 points, a 1.53 per cent loss for the day.
The H-share index fell 2 per cent to close yesterday at 10,195.05 points. Total market turnover was HK$118.9 billion.
"China is affecting the outlook of the global economy and it could get much worse in the third and fourth quarters," Tung Shing Securities equities analyst Ivan Li told the South China Morning Post.
Steep falls for Malaysian and Indonesian currencies against the US dollar reminded him of the "unhappy days" when currency market gyrations preceded the Asian financial crisis.
"There were very few investment themes attractive to investors this week with a lot of comments about investors further detaching from company fundamentals and trying to mimic the portfolio of the China Securities Fund," said Gerry Alfonso, a director at Shenwan Hongyuan Securities in Shanghai, in reference to a government fund that is trying to stabilise mainland markets by buying blue chip shares.