Chinese stocks in Hong Kong fell the most since the global financial crisis, as the country’s worst nationwide outbreak of Covid-19 since the pandemic began threatened valuations across every sector from technology to casino gambling.

The Hang Seng China Enterprises index of mainland Chinese stocks closed more than 7 per cent lower on Monday after authorities announced a six-day lockdown in the tech and manufacturing hub of Shenzhen. That marked its largest one-day fall since November 2008.

China had until recently managed to contain outbreaks of the virus with the strategy it developed early in the pandemic: citywide lockdowns, mass testing and stringent contact tracing whenever an infection is detected. That has prevented nationwide waves of Covid for most of the last two years.