The sunny sentiment is slipping but Hong Kong blue chips were reasonably steady in the face of steeper falls elsewhere in Asia yesterday while a bout of fund-raising hit smaller stocks.
The Hang Seng Index fell 50.05 points or 0.43 per cent to close at 11,380.61. Turnover was HK$9.72 billion.
The Bank of America said Hong Kong was spared as the Wall Street fallout was weighing harder on South Korea and other technology-heavy markets.
Hong Kong stocks edged to a low for the month after the key 11,500-support level crumbled on Wednesday. A lack of positive news to lift the market combined with dark clouds of political and economic uncertainty hanging over Wall Street have brought general scepticism.
'It's mainly affected by Wall Street sentiment and the local economy is still patchy. Property market news is still mixed so we're lacking any positive news. The market is drifting,' DBS Vickers Securities sales director Antony Mak Siu-leung said.
Investors were fairly indiscriminate, selling heavyweight blue chips and recently buoyant second-line stocks.
Key losers included chip-equipment play ASM Pacific Technology, which fell 3.5 per cent to $20.65, and Sun Hung Kai Properties, which lost 1.58 per cent to $62.25.
