Hong Kong stocks had their worst day in nearly three months on Thursday, with main indexes closing at month lows, bruised by a slump in energy and raw material shares. The market, which rebounded roughly 8 percent during the first two months of the year, is also suffering from growing selling pressure as risk appetites have been reduced ahead of a widely-expected US interest rate hike next week.
The Hang Seng index fell 1.2 percent, to 23,501.56, while the China Enterprises Index lost 1.8 percent, to 10,095.79 points. All main sectors lost ground, with energy shares among the worst casualties, after crude prices dived more than 5 percent overnight on a spike in US oil stockpiles. The Hang Seng materials sector also fell sharply, down over 3 percent, despite China's producer price index (PPI) jumping 7.8 percent in February from a year earlier.
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