17:T763,Staff reporter

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index embraced its fifth day of drops in a row as China's producer price index fell for a 23rd month.

The decline came when Alibaba (9988) will be included in the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect and the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect today.

Major technology stocks lowered in general, with Tencent (0700) losing 0.59 percent, Alibaba dropping 1.88 percent and JD.com (9618) down 2.97 percent. Xiaomi (1810) bucked the trend, seeing an increase of 0.43 percent.

Citigroup cut its target for the Hang Seng Index by 3 percent to 19,800 points by the end of 2024. The move came as the Hang Seng Index weakened for five straight days, despite prediction for H shares to perform better than shares being traded in the mainland.

The Hang Seng Index closed down 247 points, or 1.42 percent, at 17,196 points.

Citi said the target was lowered due to reduced forecasts for corporate earnings, China's power demand and M2 growth.

Meanwhile, the MSCI Asia Pacific Index, a key Asian stock gauge, fell as much as 1.8 percent, to the lowest level in three weeks, weighed down by losses in technology stocks on concerns over US economic growth.

China's producer price index dropped 1.8 percent against forecasts for a 1.4 percent fall, down for the 23rd consecutive month, compared with a fall of 0.8 percent in July.

The country's consumer prices index rose 0.6 percent from a year earlier in August, according to the National Bureau of Statistics yesterday, partly due to high temperatures and the rainy weather resulting in food prices hiking by 2.8 percent year-on-year last month.

Citi slashes HSI target by 3pc