HSI Slips As Asian Stocks Fall On Wall Street Loss

Hong Kong stocks ended the morning session in negative territory on Tuesday following sharp losses in New York fuelled by fears of a crackdown on technology firms in light of the massive Facebook data breach.

The Hang Seng Index slipped 0.5 percent, to 31,344 by the break.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.8 percent, to 3,280 while the Shenzhen Composite Index which pared some of its early losses, was 0.1 percent down, to 1,866.

Japan's Nikkei went into the break more than 1 percent lower, while Sydney was off 0.5 percent.

Singapore gave up 0.2 percent and Seoul retreated 0.4 percent, with Wellington, Manila, Taipei and Jakarta all sharply down.

Investors are keeping a close watch on the Federal Reserve's policy meeting this week looking for clues about its timetable for tightening monetary policy. (AFP)