Hong Kong stocks plunged over 700 points from an intraday high in afternoon trading as investors cashed out on gains, sending turnover to a four-month peak.

The benchmark Hang Seng index briefly soared to 22,523 points, but quickly reversed course, ending the day down 43 points or 0.19 percent at 21,814, with a daily turnover of HK$379.44 billion.

The Tech Index once hit a three-year high but later retreated and closed at 5,235 points, down about 0.9 percent.

The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index fell 55 points, or 0.68 percent, closing at 8,002 points.

Several tech stocks that saw gains in recent days were hit by selling, with Xiaomi (1810), Lenovo (0992) and Hua Hong Semiconductor (1347) all falling by more than 5 percent.

BYD Electronics (0285) retreated nearly 8 percent, making it the worst-performing blue-chip stock and BYD (1211) dropped 3.69 percent.

But Alibaba shares maintained their uptrend, with Alibaba (9988) closing up 2.55 percent and Alibaba Health Information Technology (0241) rising 3.86 percent.

Mainland property stocks that surged yesterday retreated with China Vanke (2202) dropping 6.3 percent and Shimao (0813) plunging 10.68 percent.

Stocks in the mainland also retreated.

The Shanghai Composite Index closed at 3,332 points, down 13 points while Shenzhen Component Index ended at 10,626 points, falling 82 points or 0.77 percent.

STAFF REPORTER

Turnover hit a four-month high as investors cashed out on gains. BLOOMBERG

HSI gives up 700-point gain in roller-coaster ride