Property counters lead decline on worries that borrowing costs may follow the Fed's next rise
Hong Kong stocks fell for a third day running, to a new low for the month, as investors continued to worry about rising interest rates. However, Lenovo bucked the trend on suggestions its planned purchase of IBM's personal computer unit may not go ahead.
Weak United States consumer confidence data and rising oil prices gave a negative backdrop to the market, with players continuing to focus on bad news and earnings while ignoring any positive signals, brokers said.
'The way the market is looking right now you are not going to be missing out on anything by not dealing,' said Andrew Clarke, the head of sales trading at Kim Eng Securities, noting that some people were holding off until the full-year earnings season takes off early next month in order to avoid any nasty surprises.
The Hang Seng Index dropped through the 13,400-point level, where it had found reasonable buying support in recent weeks, to an intraday low of 13,320.53 before finishing the day down 94.03 points, or 0.7 per cent, at 13,386.99. It was the lowest close since it finished at 13,369.09 on November 4 last year.
The H-share index edged down 21.19 points, or 0.46 per cent, to 4,545.55.
