Lenovo shares fell as much as 6percent in morning trading before recovering slightly in the afternoon to close 4 percent down at HK$3.575. Over 46.7 million shares were traded, more than three times higher than Tuesday's volume. The stock was suspended Wednesday as the company named William Amelio, a former executive with rival Dell, as its new chief executive to replace Steve Ward with immediate effect.

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"The market is a bit jittery about the change in management, which could affect the execution of the company's plans to integrate the former IBM business," said Mark Alan Canizares, a Manila-based analyst for brokerage CiticsecOnline.com.

"We believe the change may prompt concern about senior management stability," Nomura Securities analyst Theodore Teo wrote in a report. "However, it shows that Lenovo does not shy away from recruiting outside talent when required."

Ward's replacement by Amelio this week came less than eight months after Lenovo completed the US$1.75 billion (HK$13.65 billion) acquisition of IBM's PC unit in May.

Ward was credited with stabilizing the former IBM business and stemming customer losses after the acquisition.

This gave Lenovo a 13.4 percent increase in net profit to HK$711 million in the six months to September.

Under Amelio, Dell's Asia-Pacific sales more than doubled during his four years in charge of its operations in the region.

Lenovo, the world's No3 PC manufacturer, hopes to grow at twice the industry average rate in the next few years as it tries to catch up with Dell and Hewlett-Packard.

Both currently sell more than twice as many PCs as Lenovo.

Lenovo shares fell despite a market consensus that Amelio's appointment will help boost sales.

"Amelio will help Lenovo break into emerging markets such as Russia and Brazil, as well as India," Canizares said.

"Amelio's experience gives him a strong understanding of the China market, as well as important markets such as India and Japan," Morgan Stanley analyst Vicktor Ma noted.