Hong Kong Stocks Lead Asian Market Slide

Hong Kong shares slipped deep into the red on Tuesday as investors returned from a long weekend to news that China had retaliated to US tariffs, ramping up tensions in their trade war.

The Hang Seng Index was down 1.6 percent, to 28,103 about 30 minutes from the midday break, after slipping below the 28,000 mark earlier.

Most Asian markets extended the global sell-off Tuesday following hefty losses on Wall Street overnight.

Shanghai shed 0.3 percent and Tokyo was off 0.7 percent at the break.

Sydney and Singapore each dropped more than 1 percent, with Manila and Jakarta both down 1.6 percent.

There were also losses in Taipei and Wellington, though Seoul edged up slightly.

"Uncertainty and short-term sentiment impact is likely to stay," Medha Samant, director of investment at Fidelity International, told Bloomberg TV. "In the short term, it looks like volatility is here to stay and we could see this risk-off, risk-on going on for a long time." (AFP)

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