Hong Kong stocks slip with Asian markets, Nasdaq on heightened recession risks

The Hang Seng Index tumbled 1.1 per cent to 23,517.34 at 9.50am local time on Tuesday, adding to a 1.9 per cent loss on Monday and a 0.6 per cent setback on Friday. The Hang Seng Tech Index slipped 0.3 per cent. The CSI 300 Index and the Shanghai Composite Index of onshore stocks both declined 0.5 per cent.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 2.5 per cent while South Korea’s Kospi Index lost 2 per cent and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index slipped 1.4 per cent. The MSCI Asia-Pacific ex-Japan Index, which tracks major markets outside Japan, lost 1.2 per cent.

In Hong Kong, Alibaba Group Holding slipped 3.4 per cent to HK$129.90 and e-commerce peer JD.com weakened 3.3 per cent to HK$157. WeChat operator Tencent Holdings declined 1 per cent to HK$511.50 while search-engine operator Baidu retreated 3.2 per cent to HK$89.05. Gains in auto stocks helped contain losses, with Xpeng surging 5.3 per cent to HK$94.

Stocks slumped amid heightened recession fears. US President Donald Trump hit China and other US trade partners with higher tariffs and threatened more punitive measures, prompting retaliation. The Nasdaq 100 of America’s biggest tech stocks crashed almost 4 per cent overnight, erasing US$1.1 trillion of value in the worst sell-off since 2022, according to Bloomberg data.

“Trade tensions with the US will intensify,” Jing Sima, a China strategist at BCA Research, said in a report. “A sharp economic slowdown and/or equity market sell-offs is likely to precede further policy calibration” by policymakers in Beijing, she added.