Two fresh attacks by short sellers on Hong Kong-listed stocks are testing the city’s efforts to limit companies’ ability to halt their shares from trading without answering allegations.

CT Environmental Group requested a trading halt yesterday, after the publication of a critique by Glaucus Research sent its shares down 18.1 per cent within minutes. The Chinese waste water manager asked for the suspension pending news and its rebuttal.

CTEG’s decision to suspend its shares came just days after an anonymous attack posted online against China Hongqiao, the world’s largest aluminium producer by capacity. Hongqiao, which has not halted trading in its shares, yesterday described the report’s allegations as “one-sided and misleading speculation” and reserved the right to take legal action.