HONG KONG (Nikkei Markets) -- Hong Kong shares gave up early gains to end little changed Thursday, tracking an afternoon selloff on mainland Chinese bourses. Chinese conglomerates in Hong Kong and small-cap companies in Shenzhen were among the notable decliners.
The Hang Seng Index fell less than 0.1% to 25,674.53 at the close. The gauge lost nearly 200 points from the day's peak as Chinese equities suffered a selloff in the final hour of the day's trading. While the CSI 300 Index of large companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen managed to close 0.1% up at an 18-month high, the Shenzhen Composite slid 1.3% and the ChiNext index of small-company shares in the city sank 1.4%. The CSI 300 had risen more than 1% earlier in the day, as buying activity in the wake of MSCI's decision the previous day to add A-shares to its benchmark indexes spilled over.
