A drop in the share prices of Chinese tech stocks listed in Hong Kong dragged the city’s Hang Seng index to its lowest level this year as investors digested the fallout from a regulatory crackdown on ride-hailing business Didi Chuxing.
Food-ordering app Meituan fell 7 per cent while internet groups Alibaba and Tencent lost 4 per cent, helping push the Hang Seng index 3 per cent lower on Thursday. The index has lost almost 13 per cent since its peak in February.
The falls followed Chinese regulatory action against Didi. The ride-hailing group’s share price plunged 20 per cent on Tuesday after authorities prevented new users from signing up to its app just days after it raised more than $4bn in an initial public offering in New York. Regulators cited data security concerns for the move.