HSBC Holdings' shares and rights yesterday fell for the first time this week, as the global banking giant said it might fire 1,200 employees in Britain to cope with a difficult operating environment.
The stock fell the most in more than two weeks on profit taking, sliding 4.69 per cent to end at HK$43.65.
That dragged the Hang Seng Index down more than four times as much as any other blue chip and contributed 114.42 points to the benchmark's loss of 288.23 points.
Meanwhile, HSBC's rights shares dropped 12.26 per cent to HK$15.32 after tacking on 58.73 per cent over the previous two days.
Turnover in the shares and rights totalled HK$3.2 billion, well below Tuesday's HK$7.44 billion.
'HSBC just followed the fall-back in the Dow Jones [Industrial Average],' said Peter Lai, a director at DBS Vickers. 'This is the right time to sell because at HK$48, it should meet strong resistance as there are too many uncertainties and variables in the US banking sector that undoubtedly will affect the future of HSBC.'
