China's shares plunge to lowest valuation on record in Hong Kong

As September draws to an end, the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index has lost 14 per cent to rank as the worst performer among major equity benchmarks globally this month.

Hovering around the lowest since the global financial crisis, it is now trading at 0.6 times book value, the cheapest ever.

All but three stocks are down this year on the 50-member gauge, with property developers and tech companies at the bottom.

China’s largest builder Country Garden Holdings has lost almost three quarters of its value and video streaming firm Bilibili is down about two thirds.

As central banks around the world step up rate hikes to tame inflation, Chinese stocks have been hit particularly hard as the Covid-Zero policy took a toll on the its economy and as Sino-American tensions worsened over Taiwan and Russia. 

Hong Kong’s open capital market means foreign investors can pull their money out anytime they want, making it prone to bigger swings amid macro headwinds.

Investors are pinning their hopes on China’s twice-a-decade Communist Party Congress in mid-October.