Chinese stocks fall for the second day on capital outflow after the parade

Hong Kong stocks fell for the second day by the end of Thursday, barely holding above the 25,000-point bar, as investors were capitalizing on the previous gains of Chinese equities before the high-stakes military parade.

The benchmark Hang Seng Index initially rose as much as 0.6 points to 25,494, but soon plunged and hovered above the 25,000 point mark in the afternoon. 

The indicator closed at 25,058 points, down 284 points or 1.12 percent, with the main board turnover further recovering to HK$302.23 billion.

The tech gauge dropped by 1.85 percent to 5,578 points. 

Tech shares and chipmakers led the fall. Alibaba (9988), the most traded stock on Thursday, slid 2.54 percent to HK$130.7 apiece and SMIC (0981), the second-largest in turnover, plunged 6.67 percent to HK$56.

The mainland markets remained muted in the afternoon, dragged by computing hardware makers and military equipment manufacturers. For the whole day, the Shanghai Composite Index ended 1.25 percent lower at 3,765 and the Shenzhen Component Index also declined 2.83 percent to 12,118.

STAFF REPORTER