Hong Kong’s First Trading Tax Hike Since 1993 Pummels Stocks
- HKEX shares sink 8.8% at the close, biggest loss since 2015
- Mainland-based funds sell record $2.6 billion of city’s shares
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Hong Kong unveiled its first stamp-duty increase on stock trades since 1993, sparking a broad selloff in the $7.6 trillion market and sending shares of the city’s exchange to their biggest plunge in more than five years.
The plan for a trading-tax hike to 0.13% from 0.10% is part of a raft of new measures announced in Hong Kong’s budget on Wednesday that included increased spending to help residents weather the pandemic. Even as the city’s economy has plunged over the past year, stock prices and trading have surged amid a global market boom.