Hong Kong stocks plunged more than three per cent in early trade today on new fears about the euro zone debt crisis after Greece said that it would miss the deficit target set for it by the IMF and EU.
In the first minutes of trading the benchmark Hang Seng Index was down 533.02 points or 3.03 per cent at 17,059.39.
Athens said yesterday that Greece’s budget deficit will hit 8.5 per cent of GDP in 2011, missing a 7.4 per cent target initially fixed as part of a bail-out agreement in June. It will also miss its 2012 target, the government said.