'Everyone is losing money': Hong Kong investors rattled by market rout

The benchmark Hang Seng Index fell by 13.2 percent — its biggest drop since the 1997 Asian financial crisis — as a wider selloff rippled across Asian markets, spurred by China’s retaliatory levies.

At a securities brokerage in Hong Kong’s finance district, where more than a dozen elderly investors stared at red-flashing numbers on computer screens, the mood was grim.

A woman in her nineties, surnamed Tam, said she “hated” Trump.

“He cost me HK$200,000 ($25,700),” she said.
“He’s nonsensical. He says one thing and changes his mind a few minutes later... How can someone in such a lofty position act like that?”

None of the Hang Seng Index’s 83 constituent stocks escaped losses on Monday.

Among the biggest losers were Lenovo Group, which plunged 23 percent, and Alibaba Group, down 18 percent.

“(Trump) won’t let it go, he’s making a mess,” said another retiree, surnamed Lee.
“Everyone around me is losing money.”

The Chinese finance hub resumed trading on Monday after a three-day break, which worsened the drawdown, according to Stanley Chik, head of research at Bright Smart Securities.

“For Hong Kong equities, it is rare to see across-the-board losses to this extent,” Chik told AFP, though he noted they were on par with how U.S. markets had reacted.

Hong Kong’s stock market had outperformed the United States since Trump took office, but Monday’s rout wiped out the Hang Seng Index’s gains from the first quarter of the year.

Investors in the city had taken a wait-and-see approach for weeks as Trump finalized his trade policies, Chik said, adding that while the mood was grim, it was not yet one of “despair.”

Hong Kong leads the world in retail investor participation, with a 2023 survey showing that 48 percent of respondents held or traded stocks in the preceding year.

A 35-year-old man surnamed Tsang said his long-term investments lost around $12,900 on Monday — but he would not consider selling yet.

“I didn’t expect it to get so bad,” said Tsang, a commercial bank employee in Hong Kong.
“China A-shares may be more resilient. In this sort of fight (between China and the United States), it’s hard to say who will suffer more.”

Ray Chan, a 30-year-old lawyer, was among the few left unscathed on Monday — having sold all his Hong Kong and U.S. shareholdings two weeks earlier, netting seven-figure gains.

“We’re clearly entering a bear market, but I’m prepared,” Chan told AFP.
“When (Trump) said there would be tariffs on April 2, I could guess where things were headed.”

He said it would take “at least a year” before he considers returning to the market.