HSI Ends In The Red As Regulatory Fears Intensify

Local shares widened losses on Thursday afternoon as renewed fears over Beijing's regulatory crackdown gripped investors.

Markets in the region failed to take the cue from Wall Street, which posted another record close after slower-than-expected inflation figures eased rate hike concerns.

The Hang Seng Index opened slightly lower and flipped between gains and losses in the morning. But the benchmark came under further pressure in the afternoon, losing as many as 274 points at one stage. It later clawed back some of the losses to finish down 142 points, or 0.5 percent, at 26,517.

Market turnover was HK$135.9 billion.

Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing plunged 3.5 percent, after a number of banks cut their target price on the bourse operator following its interim earnings announcement.

But the biggest blue-chip loser was Alibaba Health Information Technology, which slumped 4.4 percent.

The drug-manufacturing and public health sectors were among industries named in guidelines issued by Beijing calling for tougher regulations.

Techtronic Industries surged about 12 percent to a record high after the appliances-maker reported that its interim net profit soared more than 50 percent.

Galaxy Entertainment added 0.9 percent, after the casino operator said it swung back into the black for the first half.

Shares of China Evergrande and its subsidiaries tumbled up to 8.2 percent on reports that China Vanke and Country Garden exited talks on buying some the the cash-strapped developer's stakes in its units.

Across the border, the Shanghai Composite Index slipped 0.2 percent, while the CSI300 index gave up 0.8 percent. The Shenzhen Composite shed 0.4 percent.

Taiwan was marginally lower. Japan's Nikkei declined 0.2 percent. The Kospi in South Korea retreated 0.4 percent. Shares in Australia were fractionally higher. Singapore was up slightly.