Hong Kong shares fell on Thursday, as an accelerated depreciation of the Chinese currency hit airline stocks and soured investor appetite for yuan-based assets. The Hang Seng index fell 0.4 percent, to 28,010.86, while the China Enterprises Index lost 0.5 percent, to 10,523.24 points.
Hong Kong-listed air carriers, including Air China, China Eastern Airlines and China Southern Airlines, slumped amid concerns that a weaker yuan could make their heavy dollar borrowings more costly. The sub-index of the Hang Seng tracking energy shares dipped 0.5 percent, the IT sector fell 0.71 percent, the financial sector was 0.21 percent lower and the property sector declined 0.54 percent.
The top gainer on Hang Seng was China Life Insurance Co Ltd up 1.02 percent, while the biggest loser was Want Want China Holdings Ltd which was down 3.78 percent.