Hong Kong stocks went down 348. 25 points, or 1.53 percent to close at 22,423.14 on Tuesday.

The benchmark Hang Seng Index opened 73 points lower in the morning but repeatedly moved upward till reaching the daily high of 22,813.93. Market gains soon eased and by the end of the morning session, the index was 48 points lower.

Mild slide turned into tumble in the afternoon as market dived over 200 points to the daily low of 22,395.38 before regaining some ground.

Turnover was 67.08 billion HK dollars (8.66 billion U.S. dollars).

Hong Kong-listed mainland banks, which had been the major boost of the market on Monday, led the loss, with the CCB, the country's largest mortgage lender, contributing 65 points to the fall of the index.

Share price of the company retreated 3.38 percent to 7.15 HK dollars.

Bank of China dropped 3.95 percent to 4.62 HK dollars, following CCB as the second largest contributor to the index decline. A report by Bloomburg on the day cited the bank as saying that "it is studying various options to replenish capital in order to ensure sustainable growth."

The two mainland-based insurers also registered loss, with China Life down 1.14 percent to 38.95 HK dollars and Ping An retreating 0.2 percent to 73.2 HK dollars.

Heavyweight China Mobile helped dragging the index into negative growth by falling 1.83 percent to 75.2 HK dollars while HSBC went down 0.58 percent to 95.05 HK dollars.

The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index, which tracks so-called H shares of Chinese companies listed in Hong Kong, slid 1.88 percent to 13,369.

The oil sector also retreated, losing the ground gained on Monday. Leading oil producer PetroChina went down 1.8 percent to 9. 84 HK dollars and Sinopec fell 0.75 percent to 6.64 HK dollars.

Among the 42 constituents of the Hang Seng Index, only two stocks rose moderately, failing to buckle the downward trend. HK & China Gas gained 1.28 percent to 18.98 HK dollars and port- operator China Merchant Holdings went up 0.6 percent to 25.1 HK dollars.