Hong Kong stocks plunged to their lowest level this year at around 26,000 points, as the Middle East conflict escalated on Monday.
The benchmark Hang Seng Index slumped as much as 747 points to below the 26,000-point mark at one point, before closing 570 points, or 2.1 percent, lower, to 26,059 points at the close.
The market turnover spiked to HK$357.7 billion. HSBC (0005) tanked 5 percent.
Airline shares dropped with Cathay Pacific Airways (0293) falling 4.1 percent, while China’s big three air giants Air China (0753), China Southern Airlines (1055), and China Eastern Airlines (0670) lost 5.3 percent to 8.3 percent.
Oil shares, however, performed well with China’s three biggest oil firms up 2.6 percent to 5.6 percent as oil prices jumped 7 percent.
The Hang Seng Tech Index declined by 2.9 percent to 4,989 points.
In the mainland, the Shanghai Stock Exchange Composite Index rose by 0.5 percent to 4,182 points and the Shenzhen Stock Exchange Component Index was down by 0.2 percent to 14,465 points.
