THE Hang Seng Index fell sharply for the second consecutive day yesterday amid new China-related fears, tumbling more than 100 points on opening before recovering to close the day 53.1 points lower at 5,751.4.
Prices were marked down in London overnight, following the latest blitz from Beijing by top representative Zhou Nan, which pushed share prices lower in Hongkong.
Turnover remained sluggish at $2.55 billion, a shade lower than the previous day, with players electing to sit out the run-up to February 17, when draft democratic reform Bills are to go before the Legislative Council.
Barclays de Zoete Wedd assistant director K.S. Ng said: ''The market opened very weak in line with London prices and follow-through selling from institutions who reckon the market's upside is extremely limited at the moment.
''It also came after the comments from Mr Zhou that China will not make any concessions on the policy reforms, and repeated attacks over Container Terminal 9.'' After the initial sell-off, buyers returned to pick up defensive stocks. The morning session closed at 5,712.24.
Bargain-hunting continued into the afternoon, lifting the index a further 40 points.
