Hong Kong Market tumbles 4.1%

Hong Kong stock market finished session steep lower on Monday, 26 July 2021, amid concerns about Beijing's expanding series of regulatory actions against the industries from tech to real estate to education firms and food-delivery.

At closing bell, the benchmark Hang Seng Index dropped 4.13%, or 1,129.66 points, to 26,192.32. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index fell 4.92%, or 483.81 points, to 9,355.24.

The sub-index of the Hang Seng tracking the commerce & industry sector fell 6%, while the finance sector fell 2%, and the properties sector shed 3%, while the utilities sector rose 1.1%.

The market tumult was sparked by a move by Beijing over the weekend to ban academic tuition groups from making profits, raising capital or going public. Beijing's crackdown on education companies raised fears of more regulatory tightening across the world's second-biggest economy.

China's antitrust regulator fined Tencent over the weekend and ordered it to give up some exclusive music-licensing rights, while state media reported that a severe curtailing of the country's after-school tutoring industry was in the works. And on Monday afternoon, shortly before the Hong Kong market closed, regulators issued joint guidelines for companies such as Meituan on how to treat food-delivery drivers.

Shares of Chinese technology companies including Tencent Holdings, Meituan and Alibaba Group Holding tumbled Monday, as regulatory hawks in Beijing unleash another round of punishments.

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