RED chips and H shares continued to dominate the market for the second day yesterday, swelling turnover to $4.61 billion in a day of heavy speculative buying.
The Hang Seng Index lost 18.08 points to 7,339.55 due mainly to investors locking in profits, and blue chips fell across the board.
Trading was buoyant when the market opened, with the index gaining 53.93 to 7,411.57 at 10.15 am but then gradually sliding before closing for the morning.
Things became sluggish after reopening and trading was virtually flat for the whole afternoon.
Vickers Ballas director Barry Yates said the market was undecided on the direction it would take. ''Investors are undecided as to where to go from here.'' He said investors might be waiting for some news from the Sino-British talks scheduled for next week.
''At this point, the market is very difficult to please but easy to disappoint,'' he said.