HONG KONG, Aug 15 (Reuters) - Hong Kong residents' confidence in their leader Tung Chee-hwa slipped further after a plan by the stock exchange to delist "penny stocks" earlier this month sparked a sell-off causing investors losses, a survey showed on Thursday.
Confidence in the territory' chief executive sank by a measure of 15.6 percent to 77.5 points from 99.5 points in early August from early July, according to the survey by the respected private think-tank Hong Kong Policy Research Institute Ltd.
The survey uses a 0-200 point scale to measure confidence.
The latest survey was conducted days after the exchange had proposed in a consultation paper to possibly delist low-priced and small-capitalisted stocks from the local bourse, causing panic selling.
Following a public outcry, the exchange scrapped the original paper and pledged to issue a new one by the end of October.
The measure of confidence in the government dived by a larger margin of 25.3 percent to 63.7 points from 85.3, while confidence in the political prospects of Hong Kong fell 6.3 percent to 69.7 points from 74.3, the survey showed.
Reflecting growing concerns about the mainland' encroaching influence on the territory, a special administrative region under Chinese rule, confidence in the political relationship between China and Hong Kong slipped by a measure of 10.2 percent to 111.8 from 124.5, the poll said.
On Thursday, a Hong Kong court fined 16 Falun Gong members for public obstruction and other offences during a protest against Beijing, in a case that ignited fears about personal freedoms in the territory. [..]
(US$1=HK$7.8).
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