Hong Kong’s benchmark share index fell on Tuesday, joining most global equity and commodity markets hurt by worries about the economy.
The Hang Seng index fell 1.0 per cent to 23,485.41 points. The China Enterprises Index lost 1.8 per cent to 11,990.79 points, posting its biggest single-day drop since December 9.
Shih Wenbien, analyst at Yuanta Securities in Shanghai, said it would take time for investor sentiment in Hong Kong to recover as oil prices keep dropping and US markets posted big losses overnight.
He said some investors were shifting capital to mainland markets given that the price gap between A-H shares continued to widen.
The index measuring price differences between dual-listed companies in Shanghai and Hong Kong stood at 131.83, the highest level since October 2011.
A value above 100 indicates Shanghai shares are pricing at a premium to shares in the same company trading in Hong Kong.
Among the most actively traded stocks on Hong Kong's main board were Bank of China, down 0.7 per cent at HK$4.41, ICBC, down 1.6 per cent at HK$5.71, and China Construction Bank, down 1.4 per cent at HK$6.43.
Chinese investment flowing from Shanghai into Hong Kong through the mutual market access pilot programme took up 0.97 billion yuan ($156.14 million) of the 10.5 billion yuan daily quota.
Total trading volume of companies included in the HSI index was 2.6 billion shares. ($1 = 6.2122 Chinese yuan renminbi)