Hong Kong Shares Down On Close

Hong Kong stocks closed below the 28,000 mark on Wednesday, with tech firms leading the losses after Beijing stepped up supervision of overseas-listed firms on data security.

The Hang Seng Index finished in the red for the seventh consecutive day.

The index dropped more than 350 points during trading before rebounding.

Still, it ended the day down 112 points, or 0.4 percent, at 27,960 – the lowest close in nearly two months.

Turnover reached HK$156.6 billion

Tech plays continued to struggle. Alibaba lost 1.7 percent, Tencent shed nearly 1.9 percent and Baidu gave up more than 2 percent.

Stocks across the border finished higher.

The Shanghai Composite index gained two-thirds of a percent, the CSI-300 ended up 1.1 percent, and the Shenzhen Component Index put on 1.8 percent.

Elsewhere, the Nikkei in Japan lost almost 1 percent. The South Korean Kospi fell 0.6 percent. Taiwan stocks were down 0.4 percent, and Australian shares climbed 0.9 percent.