Hong Kong - On-going financial woes related to the US sub-prime mortgage crisis which have put pressure on several Hong Kong banks dragged the benchmark Hang Seng index down 2.51 per cent to fall below 22,000 points Tuesday.

The index fell 565 points to close at 21,949.75 points.

Turnover was 63.99 billion Hong Kong dollars (8.2 billion US dollars).

Bank of East Asia, the territory's fifth biggest lender, closed 8.28 per cent down at 33.20 Hong Kong dollars after it reported a worse-than-expected 52.4 per cent drop in net profit for the first-half.

One analyst said the market had expected a 20 per cent fall in net profit, but the bank, which reported an interim net profit of 894 million Hong Kong dollars, down from 1.88 billion Hong Kong dollars in the first half last year, posted larger investment losses.

HSBC also fell 2.16 per cent to 126.60 Hong Kong dollars after it reported a 29 per cent decline in interim net profit. (dpa)