HSI, Asian Benchmarks Plunge On Wall Street Lead

Markets across Asia dived to finish in negative territory on Thursday, following in the footsteps of the worst sell-off on Wall Street since October.

Locally, the Hang Seng Index plunged as much as 830 points, before finishing down 746 points or 2.6 percent, at 28,550, on turnover of HK$269.9 billion.

Heavyweight Tencent retreated 2.9 percent. Alibaba sank 3.2 percent. And Meituan lost 2.3 percent.

Hang Lung Properties gave up 1.2 percent after reporting a net loss in its full year results announcement.

Cathay Pacific shares plummeted 9.7 percent after the carrier unveiled a HK$6.7 billion bond sale and raised further concerns over its finances.

Across the border, the Shanghai Composite Index slipped 1.9 percent, and the blue-chip CSI300 fell 2.7 percent. The Shenzhen Composite index closed 2.8 percent lower.

Elsewhere in the region, Tokyo’s Nikkei and Seoul’s Kospi each dropped more than one percent. Taiwan shed 1.8 percent. Australia lost almost two percent. Singapore was down 1.4 percent.