Hong Kong
Hong Kong stocks tumbled Tuesday after Moody’s downgraded the city’s credit rating over its response to months of sometimes violent protests, while other regional markets were also deep in the red following recent gains. Observers warned of a growing concern about a SARS-like virus that has spread beyond China and which is now believed to be transmitted between humans. With US markets closed for a holiday, traders struggled to find fresh catalysts to continue a long-running rally fuelled by the China-US trade pact, lowered Brexit tensions, central bank easing and an improving global outlook. Hong Kong was the stand-out on Tuesday, plunging 1.8 percent a day after Moody’s said it had lowered its rating in a fresh blow to the financial hub, which is expected to have fallen into recession last year owing to the unrest as well as the China-US trade war. In a statement, the firm said: “The absence of tangible plans to address either the political or economic and social concerns of the Hong Kong population that have come to the fore in the past nine months may reflect weaker inherent institutional capacity than Moody’s had previously assessed.”—AFP
