FX.co ★ Hong Kong Stocks Under Pressure After Wall Street Tumble

Hong Kong stocks experienced a sharp decline of 646 points, or 2.5%, bringing the Hang Seng Index down to 25,191 during early Friday trading. This drop continues the negative trend established in the previous week, marking the index's lowest point in over a month as a widespread sell-off unfolds. Investor sentiment took a hit following a steep fall on Wall Street the previous night, when U.S. employment figures did not provide clarity on the short-term outlook for interest rates. Consequently, the Hang Seng is poised for an almost 5% weekly decline, erasing gains from the past two weeks. Market participants are pulling back from riskier assets, despite Nvidia's strong earnings report. Meanwhile, Chinese markets mirrored this downward trend, also reaching their lowest levels in nearly a month, despite the People's Bank of China's supportive measures and potential new strategies for property sector relief. Additional market stress stems from growing tensions between China and Japan related to Taiwan, as well as Beijing's plans to halt imports of Japanese seafood. Technology shares in Hong Kong faced a significant drop of over 3%, with consumer, property, and financial sectors also witnessing substantial declines. The most significant losses were observed in JD Health, down 7.2%; Tencent Music, down 6.0%; SMIC, down 5.0%; and China Hongqiao, down 3.7%.