HSI Loses More Ground Before Storm Ends Trade

Hong Kong stocks closed lower on Wednesday after the city's weather bureau issued a storm warning, prompting an early closure for the bourse shortly before 2pm.

The Hang Seng Index finished down 1.3 percent, at 27,777.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index dropped 0.7 percent, to close at 2,932 while the Shenzhen Composite Index ended down 0.7 percent, at 1,571.

Tokyo stocks also closed lower as investors discouraged by US President Donald Trump's negative tweets on China as the world's two biggest economies resumed trade talks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index fell 0.9 percent, to 21,521.

Market players were also cautious ahead of a key Federal Reserve decision.

The US central bank is expected to cut interest rates at a two-day monetary meeting that began on Tuesday but investors are not sure how big the cut will be.

"Profit-taking could easily emerge, which reflects the weakness of the current Tokyo market," said Shinichi Yamamoto, broker at Okasan Securities in Tokyo. (AFP)

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