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Hong Kong stocks end 13.22% down, worst since 1997 Asian financial crisis
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.
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A trader works on the trading floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., December 14, 2022. (Reuters/Andrew Kelly)
S
hares in Hong Kong plummeted more than 13 percent Monday on their worst day in almost three decades as China's retaliation against 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.
US President Donald Trump's sweeping tariff plans hammered global financial markets on Monday after he warned foreign governments they would have to pay "a lot of money" to lift the levies that he called "medicine".
Asian equity markets sank, European shares crashed to a 16-month-low and oil prices plummeted as investors feared the duties Trump announced last week could lead to higher prices, weaker demand and potentially a global recession.
After stocks in mainland China and Hong Kong cratered on Monday, China's sovereign fund stepped in to try to stabilise the market.
Ministers in the European Union, which has been divided on how strongly to punch back against Trump without risking more pain for their own companies and consumers, are meeting on Monday as they seek to form a united front.
Goldman Sachs raised the odds of a US recession to 45 percent in the next 12 months, joining other investment banks in revising their forecast. JPMorgan economists now estimate the tariffs pushing the US economy into a 0.3 percent contraction, down from an earlier estimate of 1.3 percent growth of gross domestic product.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday, Trump indicated he was not concerned about losses that have wiped out trillions of dollars in value from world stock markets.
"I don't want anything to go down. But sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something," he said as he returned from a weekend of golf in Florida.
