HONG KONG - Hong Kong shares are poised to post their worst May performance in 14 years as an escalating euro zone crisis coupled with fears about China's economy wiped out all of the Hang Seng Index's gains for the year.

The Hang Seng Index was down 1.4 percent at 18,425 by 0239 GMT, with the intraday low in January at about 18,302.8 seen as chart support. The benchmark is down 12.7 percent in May and down 0.1 percent in 2012.

The benchmark is poised for its worst monthly performance since last September and its worst May since 1998, when it dived 14 percent on both occasions.