MOVES by Hongkong Bank and Hang Seng Bank to curb property speculation, coupled with worse-than-expected interim results from Cathay Pacific, knocked 62.1 points off the Hang Seng Index, which closed at 7,265.58 yesterday.
Despite the movement in the index, turnover was a modest $3.72 billion, almost the same as Tuesday's, as uncertainty undermined confidence and kept some major investors on the sidelines.
Barclays de Zoete Wedd sales manager Nial Gooding said: ''There was further weakness in the market as the US warned that it may go tough on China on trade and that they were unimpressed with their handling of Mr Han Dongfang.'' The August index futures fell 12 points, on 6,292 contracts, to 7,280, a 15 point premium to the cash market.
Total market volume was 12,083 contracts while the open interest fell 141 to 19,859.
The market opened to brisk trading for the first two hours and started to fall just before the market closed for the morning.
When it re-opened, trading remained flat for an hour and a half until news of Cathay Pacific's interim results came through.