Hong Kong blue chips fell 0.62 percent on Wednesday with China commodity shares further bruised by price cut announcements and index heavyweight HSBC pausing for breath after an earnings-inspired rally.
Weak overseas markets also dampened trade, and many players were sidelined ahead of further Hong Kong earnings reports.
The blue chip Hang Seng Index ended down 0.62 percent, or 76.86 points, at 12,280.26. Volume was just above recent averages, with HK$12.2 billion (US $1.56 billion) traded.
"The market should remain in a trading range until the end of August unless we get some very good earnings reports," said Samantha Ho, fund manager at Manulife Asset Management.
The one blue chip result of the day did little to spur the market. Hong Kong electric utility CLP Holdings Ltd posted an 11.4 percent rise in first half net profit, fuelled by strong growth in its overseas operations.
CLP shares however, fell 1.37 percent to HK$43.30.
Shares in global bank HSBC Holdings Plc, which accounts for one third of the weighting of the blue chip Hang Seng Index, paused for breath after a post-results rally.
HSBC slipped 0.42 percent to HK$117.50 and traders said the stock should consolidate at about HK$115 before rising again.
Hong Kong's fifth largest lender Bank of East Asia Ltd regained some ground, after slipping in the wake of worse than expected results last Friday. BEA rose 1.2 percent to HK$21.05.
Bank of China's Hong Kong arm BOC Hong Kong (Holdings) Ltd fell 1.5 percent to HK$13.10 with investors eyeing the suspension of two executives being investigated for allegedly making personal use of company-linked funds.
Property counters were largely weaker following news from the Land Registry that real estate transactions slipped for the fourth straight month in June.
The city's largest property firm Sun Hung Kai Properties fell 0.76 percent to HK$65.25.
One exception was Cheung Kong Holdings. The property flagship of ports to telecoms conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa Ltd rose along with Hutchison on news that Australia's dominant phone company Telstra Corp Ltd will buy a 50 percent stake in Hutchison's Australian third generation (3G) mobile network. Cheung Kong rose 0.86 percent to HK$58.50 while Hutchison gained 1.41 percent to HK$54.
Shares in Aluminium Corp of China Ltd (Chalco) fell 3.38 percent to HK$3.57 after announcing price cuts earlier this week. China's largest listed coal producer Yanzhou Coal slipped 2.79 percent to HK$8.70 on talk of a possible China energy tax.
China enterprise stocks, better known as H-shares, lost 0.32 percent to finish the session at 4,237.73.
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