Hong Kong stocks went down 149. 78 points, or 0.81 percent to close at 18,378.73 on Tuesday, after trading between 18,364.81 and 18,883.24 during the day.

Turnover moved up to 65.13 billion HK dollars (8.41 billion U.S. dollars) from Monday's 50.04 billion HK dollars (6.46 billion U.S. dollars).

Although falling for a second consecutive day, the benchmark index climbed 28 percent up in the first six months of the year on government stimulus packages in Chinese mainland and the United States.

The level of Hong Kong market regained before the global economic downturn, and advanced sharply from its 2008 low set on Oct. 27, when a slowing Chinese economy pushed the benchmark index to an intraday low of 10,676.

Analysts said the city's benchmark index is likely to consolidate further in the near term after gaining 5 percent in the last five sessions.

Heavyweight China Mobile led profit-taking in blue chips. The mobile giant fell 1.8 percent to 77.60 HK dollars after gaining 5.8 percent in the previous four sessions. It contributed to 32.78 points of the index's 149.78-point fall.

Chinese Internet company Tencent ended 4.3 percent lower at 90.45 HK dollars after rising 11 percent in the last four sessions.

Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing, the local bourse operator, fell 3.6 percent to 120.70 HK dollars after gaining 9.2 percent in the previous four sessions.

State-controlled refining giant Sinopec bucked the trend. The Chinese refiner rose 3.3 percent to 5.91 HK dollars on Beijing's steep hike in gasoline and diesel prices.

(One U.S. dollar equals 7.742 HK dollars)

Source: Xinhua