Hong Kong stocks plunge on worst day since 1997
China's retaliation against Trump's tariffs ramps up trade war, fuels recession fears
Shares in Hong Kong plummeted more than 13 percent on Monday, their worst day in almost three decades, as China's retaliation against US President Donald Trump's tariffs ramped up a trade war and fuelled recession fears.
The Hang Seng Index ended down 13.22 percent, or 3,021.51 points, to 19,828.30 - its heftiest drop since 1997 during the Asian financial crisis - while the Shanghai Composite Index shed 7.34 percent, or 245.43 points, to 3,096.58.
The sharp selloff came amid a collapse in Asian markets after China said late Friday it would impose retaliatory levies of 34 percent on all US goods from April 10.
The announcement followed the US president's unveiling of sweeping tariffs against trading partners for what he says are years of being ripped off, and claims that governments were lining up to cut deals with Washington.
Hong Kong Financial Secretary Paul Chan criticised the US tariffs as bullying, saying on Monday evening that they would "inevitably increase market volatility".
The Chinese finance hub has not followed Beijing's lead in imposing retaliatory levies.
Chan said Hong Kong is committed to supporting free trade, adding that the city's stock market is "resilient" with no abnormalities observed during Monday's trading.
"We do not think the current volatility in the market warrants any drastic measures to be taken," he said when asked about potential market intervention.
Firms across all sectors were in the firing line, with tech giant Alibaba diving 18 percent and rival JD.com shedding 15.5 percent, while Chinese developers lost as much as 15 percent. Market operator Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing was also hammered more than 14 percent.
The rush to sell saw market turnover hit a record HK$621 billion (US$80 billion).