The Hong Kong stock exchange has announced that it will suspend its closing auction, just three days after suspicious late trades contributed to a sharp fall in HSBC’s shares.

The 24 per cent fall to a 12.5 year low of HK$33 rocked Hong Kong, where HSBC is regarded as a reliable “retirement stock” and affectionately known as “the big elephant” because of its weighting in the benchmark Hang Seng Index. HSBC’s Hong Kong-traded shares have since rebounded 9.7 per cent, closing Thursday at HK$36.20.