BEIJINGSHANGHAI, March 24 Reuters Hong Kong stocks hit their lowest in more than 10 weeks on Wednesday, tracking overnight slump in Wall Street, on concerns of potential rate hikes and policy tightening globally while elevated Treasury yields also dampened risk appetite.

By the midday break, the Hang Seng Index was down 1.9 at 27,954.52, the lowest since Jan. 12, while Chinese Hshares listed in Hong Kong fell 2.18 to 10,868.77.

Mainland shares also extended losses, with the Shanghai Composite index down 1.22 at 3,369.78 points while the bluechip CSI300 index dropped 1.39.

With more people getting vaccinated against the coronavirus and as the economy continues to improve, Dallas Federal Reserve President Robert Kaplan said on Tuesday that he is among the policymakers expecting the central bank to start raising rates as soon as next year.

On Wall Street overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.94, the SP 500 lost 0.76 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 1.12.

Investors in Hong Kong are following the overnight riskaverse sentiment in Wall Street as Treasury yield continued hiking, said Zhang Yanbin, an analyst with Zheshang Securities. The expectation of Fed to start raising rates in the near future also weighed.

Pony Ma, the reticent founder of Tencent Holdings, met with the countrys antitrust watchdog officials this month to discuss compliance at his group, two people with direct knowledge said, an indication that Chinas antitrust crackdown could soon…