Hong Kong shares lost all of Wednesday's gains and more yesterday, dragged lower by declines on Wall Street and a lack of follow-through buying after the previous day's surge.
The Hang Seng Index fell 260.79 points, or 2.95 per cent, to 8,558.43.
Turnover was $4.51 billion, compared with a daily average of $5.9 billion in the first three days of the week.
'The market reacted to the Dow's fall [on Wednesday] since there was no new news here,' Asia Financial Securities research head Kinson Au Kin-kee said. Wall Street's Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.98 per cent on Wednesday.
'Also, because the market surged quite a lot the day before, there wasn't enough follow-through orders,' Mr Au said.
On Wednesday, the market rose 2.57 per cent as a strengthening yen spurred coverage of short positions.
The yen remained firm yesterday, edging down only slightly.