Stocks in Hong Kong and other major Asia-Pacific markets tumbled on Friday, tracking steep overnight losses in New York, as investors brace for more US-China trade hostility amid heightened recession risks.

US equities, bonds and currency weakened while gold set new highs after the White House on Thursday clarified that tariffs on Chinese goods rose to 145 per cent. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent declined to rule out the possibility of the US delisting Chinese stocks from American exchanges, saying “everything’s on the table”.

The Hang Seng Index dropped 0.4 per cent to 20,589.82 at 10.25am local time, taking the decline this week to 9.9 per cent. The Hang Seng Tech Index retreated 0.1 per cent. The CSI 300 Index, which tracks the 300 largest mainland-listed firms, dropped 0.6 per cent while the Shanghai Composite Index also lost 0.2 per cent.

Elsewhere, Japan’s Nikkei 225 index plunged 4.7 per cent in recent trading, while South Korea’s Kospi Index lost 1.3 per cent and Australia’s ASX 200 Index slid 1.1 per cent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 2.5 per cent in New York on Thursday, while the S&P 500 Index sank 3.5 per cent and the Nasdaq Composite Index tumbled 4.3 per cent.

Stock markets in Asia resume slump as hefty US tariffs on China take effect

“We’re still staring at a full-blown US-China economic divorce,” said Stephen Innes, managing director at SPI Asset Management in Bangkok. “Nobody’s hitting the brakes.”