SHANGHAI: Hong Kong shares closed lower on Friday as the delisting of Didi from New York spooked investors in tech stocks, although the losses were limited by a gain in stocks of the city's bourse operator.
The Hang Seng index fell 0.1% to 23,766.69, while the China Enterprises Index lost 0.6% to 8,455.45 points.
For the week, the Hang Seng index retreated 1.3%, while the China Enterprises Index shed 1.4%.
Didi Global said it will delist from the New York stock exchange and pursue a listing in Hong Kong, succumbing to pressure from Chinese regulators concerned about data security.
Tech firms listed in Hong Kong slumped 1.5%.
Hong Kong stocks drop on Didi delisting; China shares rise
"This event makes the market believe that the current industry supervision of technology stocks in the mainland will continue," said Kenny Ng, a securities strategist at Everbright Sun Hung Kai in Hong Kong.
"The decline in the prices of technology stocks listed in Hong Kong today also reflects this factor."
Alibaba Group and Bilibili Inc fell 4.6% and 7.2%, respectively, hitting their record lows.
Tencent and Meituan dropped more than 2% each.
However, Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEx) jumped 4.4% as investors hoped that the exchange will benefit from an increase in turnover as more Chinese companies may follow Didi's footsteps of listing in Hong Kong.
HKEx lifted the Hang Seng Index up 45 points, the biggest point contributor to the benchmark.
Property developer China Aoyuan Group slumped nearly 12% after the developer warned shareholders that it may be unable to pay up a $651.2 million debt due to a liquidity crunch.
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