BATTERED by what appeared to be the start of a new round of attacks on the region's currencies, Hong Kong shares shed 4.76 per cent last week, closing below the 10,000-point level on Thursday, the first time they have sunk so low since January.
But while investor panic in the first round of currency crises last summer sent turnover surging in Hong Kong, in last week's decline turnover remained, as one broker put it, 'ridiculously low'.
The market closed on Friday at 10,060.38, recovering from Thursday's 9,971.93 close.
Average daily turnover for the week was $5.38 billion.
Interbank rates jumped on Thursday following reports that a mainland central banker had predicted the yuan would devalue, news of which translated into a pounding for property stocks.
The yuan report misinterpreted the central banker's meaning, Indosuez WI Carr economist Michael Taylor said, but that did not stop the market from seizing on the news.
'The report was wrong - the guy was misquoted - but that's the state of the cycle we're at. People are prepared to believe anything.' On Friday interbank rates receded a bit but the same day Hong Kong Association of Banks announced it would not be lowering rates it offered to customers.