The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative on recession fears and concern over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian markets figure to follow that lead.
The Hang Seng finished sharply lower on Thursday with damage across the board - especially from the properties and technology stocks.
For the day, the index dropped 296.67 points or 1.61 percent to finish at 18,147.95 after trading between 17,965.33 and 18,195.09.
Among the actives, Alibaba Group tumbled 2.65 percent, while Alibaba Health Info slumped 2.08 percent, ANTA Sports dropped 1.62 percent, China Life Insurance retreated 2.41 percent, China Mengniu Dairy shed 1.05 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) climbed 1.16 percent, China Resources Land fell 0.92 percent, CITIC lost 1.01 percent, CNOOC dipped 0.78 percent, Country Garden was down 0.43 percent, CSPC Pharmaceutical skidded 1.66 percent, Galaxy Entertainment surrendered 2.55 percent, Hang Lung Properties weakened 1.77 percent, Henderson Land stumbled 1.83 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas dropped 1.36 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China gave away 0.52 percent, JD.com tanked 2.84 percent, Lenovo plunged 3.12 percent, Li Ning slid 0.85 percent, Longfor eased 0.39 percent, Meituan and WuXi Biologics both sank 1.55 percent, New World Development plummeted 3.44 percent, Techtronic Industries declined 2.54 percent and Xiaomi Corporation slipped 0.72 percent.
The lead from Wall Street continues to be weak as the major averages opened lower on Thursday and remained in the red throughout the session.
The Dow shed 107.10 points or 0.35 percent to finish at 30,076.68, while the NASDAQ tumbled 153.39 points or 1.37 percent to end at 11,066.81 and the S&P 500 sank 31.94 points or 0.84 percent to close at 3,757.99.
The weakness on Wall Street reflected continued concerns about the economic outlook following the Federal Reserve's third straight 75-basis point interest rate hike on Wednesday.
While the Fed's economic projections provided a clearer outlook for future rate hikes, traders are concerned about the impact the aggressive rate increases will have on the economy. Several other central banks around the world followed the Fed's lead, including the Bank of England, which raised interest rates by 50 basis points in a split decision.
In economic news, Labor Department reported an uptick in jobless claims last week, while the Conference Board said its leading economic index fell by 0.3 percent in August after sliding by a revised 0.5 percent in July.
Crude oil prices settled higher on Thursday on concerns about tight supplies amid geopolitical tensions in Russia. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November ended higher by $0.55 or 0.7 percent at $83.49 a barrel.