HK Joins Asian Retreat After Wall Street Losses

Hong Kong stocks tumbled in Friday's morning session, in line with a sharp sell-off across Asia following hefty losses on Wall Street as traders cashed in some of the huge gains enjoyed in recent months.

The Hang Seng Index sank 1.8 percent, to 24,551 by the break.

The Shanghai Composite Index shed 1.4 percent to 3,338, while the Shenzhen Composite Index also dived 1.4 percent, to 2,269.

Other Asian markets also fell into negative territory following painfully deep losses on Wall Street, where the tech sector finally succumbed to profit-taking after months of mind-boggling gains.

Seoul, Taipei, Singapore, Jakarta and Wellington all sank more than 1 percent, while Sydney dropped more than 2 percent and Tokyo 1 percent.

The drop had been expected after the Nasdaq climbed around 80 percent from its March trough, with analysts warning that valuations were growing increasingly out of sync with economic realities – Tesla has risen nearly 500 percent in the time and Apple more than 120 percent.

"Given the market's seemingly relentless climb higher on the back of the mega-cap tech names, it should be no surprise that a pullback was in the offing as the market became increasingly extended and overbought," Quincy Krosby, at Prudential Financial, said. (AFP)

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