Hong Kong shares off 3-week high

Hong Kong stocks fell from a three-week high on Thursday as worries over the coronavirus outbreak heightened after the number of new confirmed cases and deaths soared in China's Hubei province.

At the close of trade, the Hang Seng index was down 0.3% at 27,730, off its highest level since Jan. 24 hit earlier in the session. The Hang Seng China Enterprises index fell 0.5%.

The sub-index of the Hang Seng tracking energy shares fell 0.8%, the financial sector ended 0.7% lower, the property sector edged up 0.3%, while the IT sector rose 1.1%.

About 1.62 billion Hang Seng index shares were traded. The volume traded in the previous trading session was about 1.80 billion.

Hubei, the epicentre of the virus, reported a record rise in the daily death toll on and thousands more cases on Thursday under a new diagnostic method, suggesting a much bigger crisis facing China and the world. The rise in the death toll, at 242, more than doubled the prior provincial daily record of 103 set on Monday, while the number of new cases soared by 14,840 - also a daily record - to a total of 48,206 cases.