The Hong Kong stock market took a dive after a news alert apparently misquoted the financial minister as saying that he would not rule out more increases to stamp duty in stock transactions.

Financial Secretary Paul Chan was elaborating on a 30% increase to stamp duty announced in his budget proposal last week, in a live television interview with Bloomberg on Tuesday morning. He insisted on the revised measure, which was unpopular with some investors.

Chan did not give a straight answer when asked whether the government would further raise the stamp duty. Bloomberg then reported that he did not rule out the possibility of more increases.

When the question was put to him a second time, Chan clarified on the air that he “would not commit one way or the other.”

“According to the information available to us up till now, we don’t think this modest increase in stamp duty has in any way harmed our competitiveness,” he said.

In a subsequent Bloomberg article, the financial chief was quoted as saying that the government had no current plans for more increases.

The share price of the HKEX, Hong Kong’s stock exchange, lost its morning gains of nearly 5% and ended the day down 0.82%, at HK$485.60. The Hang Seng Index also fell by 450 points right after the lunch break.

Andy Kwan, director of the ACE Centre for Business and Economic Research, said the financial secretary might have misspoken. The Hong Kong government was unlikely to propose another increase to stamp duty so soon, he said.

“[Stamp duty] has an impact on turnover, and might even cause some Hong Kong investors to go for the American markets, where it is cheaper,” Kwan said.

The Hong Kong government was bucking the global trend of decreasing stamp duty, causing the market to react negatively, he added.

The market might have reacted too quickly to Chan’s interview, said Simon Lee, senior lecturer of the business school at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. The stamp duty hike had short-term effects but the market should consider its long-term value, he said.

Lee said the measure might aim to increase government revenue, but instead affect the competitiveness of Hong Kong’s stock market in the mid to long term.

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