Hong Kong’s lackluster stock market epitomizes the challenges that the city is grappling with—China’s economic slowdown, which looks increasingly structural, and Beijing’s tightened grip on the semiautonomous city.

Neither issue looks likely to disappear soon, although China’s economy could improve a bit cyclically next year. Weak third-quarter results released Friday by Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing—the market’s owner and operator—are the latest sign of how entrenched the city’s problems have become.