Hong Kong stocks closed at their lowest level in over three months on Wednesday, falling 1.5 percent, after strong US inflation data renewed worries about further interest rates rises, spurring a broad sell-off.
"The sky has fallen down. The possible interest rate rises and inflation data scared the wits out of investors, who fell over each to sell their shares," said Francis Lun, general manager at Fulbright Securities.
Heavyweight HSBC Holdings, which makes up roughly one-third of the Hang Seng index weighting, fell 1.23 percent to HK$120.10, its lowest level since September 2004.
Dealers said HSBC's share price was sensitive to institutional hedging over derivative contracts.
China's top cellular phone service provider, China Mobile (Hong Kong) Ltd, fell 2.45 percent to HK$33.85 ahead of third-quarter earnings due on Thursday.
China Mobile is expected to report third-quarter earnings growth of 20 to 40 percent this week as it grabs market share and profits from smaller rival China Unicom Ltd.
China Mobile has been among the top performing Hang Seng stocks so far this year, and is still up over 28 percent.
Hong Kong's blue chip Hang Seng Index ended down 224.64 points to 14,372.76, its lowest level since mid-July. Nearly all of the 33 constituent Hang Seng stocks lost ground.
Turnover was HK$19.8 billion ($2.5 billion), compared to HK$15.2 billion on Tuesday. But activity has been muted ahead of the highly anticipated listing of China Construction Bank later this month. The listing is set to be the largest global IPO so far this year.
China's top oil producer, PetroChina Co Ltd, fell 3.31 percent to HK$5.85 following a dip in crude prices after forecasters predicted a hurricane would miss key oil installations along the US Gulf Coast.
China's top offshore oil producer, CNOOC Ltd, fell 2 percent to HK$4.90 despite an upgrade by Morgan Stanley to "overweight" from "equal-weight", citing its attractive valuation. It also raised its target price on the stock by 18 percent to HK$6.60 per share.
China's biggest independent electricity producer, Huaneng Power International Inc, fell 2.68 percent to HK$5.45 after it posted a 7.5 percent rise in third quarter net profit although nine month profits were hit by high fuel costs.
Hutchison Telecommunications International Ltd fell 4.81 percent to HK$9.90 on news its overseas debt increased to HK$5.88 billion ($753 million) after it took over an Indian telecom operator with a joint venture partner, according to local media reports.
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