HONG KONG stocks suffered another hammering in the past week as investors fled on fears over China and Wall Street's all-consuming run towards 5,000 points.
The Index has now fallen 745.03 points, or 7.42 per cent, to 9,287.90, since hitting a year-high of 10,032.93 last month.
It is the lowest level in nine weeks and also reflects expectations of poor corporate earnings growth.
'It was pretty quiet. The market sentiment was poor and investors didn't want to get in at this level,' Patrick Chia, analyst at Cheerful Securities, said on Monday. It was a statement that was to reflect the mood throughout the week.
Kent Rossiter, senior manager for institutional sales at Sun Hung Kai Securities, said: 'There has been a real China scare this week.
'Anything connected with China - good or bad - has been sold.' Brokers said the capital flight was occurring all over Asia.
Much of the money was going to Wall Street where the Dow Jones Industrial Average continues to soar. On Friday, the Dow closed at 4,990 points.
The local index usually follows the Dow, but not last week.
'Investments in Asia are becoming the fashion equivalent of pedal-pushers and tank tops,' Nial Gooding, head of sales at Kleinwort Benson Securities, said.
In Hong Kong, utilities fared badly during the week, leading the market down.
On Wednesday, the Federal Open Market Committee meeting failed to spur much-hoped buying after opting to leave US rates unchanged.
Shares in Hopewell and power generating arm Consolidated Electric Power Asia (Cepa) have continued to slide, despite Cepa management saying that delays at the Pagbilao power plant in the Philippines would not affect earnings forecasts.
Hopewell shares hit $4.175 on Friday, their lowest level since December 22, 1992.
Cepa lost $1.40 to $11.80 on Thursday, its lowest level since May, 1994, before rebounding by the same amount to $13.20 on Friday. The management denied the problems at the Philippine plant were as serious as first reported.
H shares were mixed with bargain hunters pushing a number of the stocks higher. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index rose for the first time in four days on Friday, adding 6.01 points to 690.86.
'Some China funds are said to be unwinding their positions,' Ambrose Chang, senior fund manager at East Asia Hamon Asset Management, said.
China fund managers might opt to get out of the market now to 'window-dress' their books in the run-up to year-end, Peter Lee, Citibank Global Asset Management portfolio manager, said.
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