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Hong Kong index falls 4.5 pct as bank shares hit
AP - 2 hours 39 minutes ago
HONG KONG - Hong Kong's main stock index tumbled 4.5 percent Tuesday as another wave of bank layoffs spurred selling in financial shares.
The blue-chip Hang Seng Index shed 613.64 points to close at 13,131.23.
Citigroup Inc. overnight announced nearly 53,000 layoffs in the coming quarters amid massive losses from deteriorating debt tied to bad mortgages. That followed Monday's news HSBC Holdings PLC, Europe's largest bank by market value, was cutting 500 jobs in Asia due to the global slump. Around 450 will be in Hong Kong.
"The entire world seems to be sinking into recession," said Francis Lun, general manager of Fulbright Securities Ltd. "Everyday there are corporate layoffs and economic bad news. Slowly but surely they are losing hope in markets."
Many investors saw the layoffs as a sign that any recovery in the financial sector was still far off.
HSBC lost 3.6 percent to 79 Hong Kong dollars. Top lender Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd, or ICBC, was off 2.7 percent to HK$3.6.
China Construction Bank dropped 5.6 percent to HK$3.88 as investors soured on Bank of America's deal to increase its stake in the Chinese company.
Insurance firms such as China Life, down 6.8 percent to HK$20, were also pummeled.
The selling came as the lending markets continued to improve. Hong Kong's interbank lending rate, known as Hibor, for three-month loans fell to 2.10 percent from 2.15 percent.
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Stock Exchange of Hong Kong: http://www.hkex.com.hk
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