{"id":142100,"date":"2022-10-20T07:35:48","date_gmt":"2022-10-20T06:35:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newmail-ng.com\/?p=142100"},"modified":"2022-10-20T07:35:48","modified_gmt":"2022-10-20T06:35:48","slug":"hong-kong-shares-hit-lowest-level-since-2009","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newmail-ng.com\/hong-kong-shares-hit-lowest-level-since-2009\/","title":{"rendered":"Hong Kong shares hit lowest level since 2009"},"content":{"rendered":"
Shares in Hong Kong have slumped to the lowest level since the global financial crisis, after a major speech by the city’s leader on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
The benchmark Hang Seng index fell by more than 3% to its lowest level since May 2009, before regaining some ground.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Investors are also concerned about the threat of a global economic slowdown as central banks around the world raise interest rates to tackle rising prices.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
In his first policy address yesterday, Hong Kong’s chief executive, John Lee, announced measures to boost security and plans to attract more overseas talent to the territory.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
However, he did not elaborate on economic targets for the city, which has lost ground to rival Asian financial centres like Singapore.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Hong Kong’s economy is currently in a technical recession, after seeing two three-month periods in a row of contraction this year.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Until recently the city had some of the world’s toughest coronavirus rules as it followed China’s zero Covid policies.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
“The Hang Seng has hit a 13-year low, and nothing is helping the fragile sentiment,” Dickie Wong, executive director of Kingston Securities said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
“There’s also a sense that tax rebates are not enough to draw foreigners back to Hong Kong,” he added.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Traders were also concerned about the Hong Kong government’s “unprecedented silence on key economic indicators,” Kelvin Tay, regional chief investment officer at UBS Global Wealth Management said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
However, Mr Tay added that investors were mostly concerned about “the economic outlook [of China] and a rise of Covid cases in the middle of the party congress in Beijing”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
More than 2,000 delegates have gathered this week in Beijing to elect leaders and debate key policies at the Communist Party congress.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
On Sunday, President Xi Jinping is expected to be confirmed for a historic third term as party chief.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Other stock markets in the Asia-Pacific region were also lower on Thursday, with benchmark share indexes in Japan, South Korea and Australia down more than 1%.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Meanwhile, the Japanese yen hit a fresh low of 149.96 to the US dollar, its lowest level since August 1990.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
That triggered further speculation that Japanese authorities will attempt to prop up the currency for the second time in the space of just a few weeks.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Shares in Hong Kong have slumped to the lowest level since the global financial crisis, after a major speech by the city’s leader on Wednesday. The benchmark Hang Seng index fell by more than 3% to its lowest level since May 2009, before regaining some ground. Investors are also concerned about the threat of a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":272,"featured_media":142103,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,11,2,1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n