In Hong Kong, angry investors took to the streets for a second day of demonstrations on Thursday, calling on the government to help them recover money invested in the local securities house, CA Pacific. CA Pacific went into liquidation on Tuesday, the latest casualty in the region's economic crisis. From Hong Kong, Jill McGivering reports.

Hundreds of small investors marched through Hong Kong to the central government offices to present a petition to the Chief Executive. Many were tearful, others could hardly contain their anger.

The BBC's Jill McGivering

These are the latest victims of the economic turmoil now gripping Hong Kong.

Lost client accounts at CA Pacific are worth a total of about $10 million: for some the investment represented their entire life savings.

Their situation has been complicated by the fact that many of the investors claim to have been cheated. They say they opened cash accounts, but that their money was transferred to margin trading accounts without their knowledge.

Some say they signed contracts printed only in English which they didn't understand.

So far the government has been cautious in its response.

Chief Executive Tung Chee-Hwa emerged to accept the investors' petition and express his concern, but there has been no hint of government compensation.

As a result of the recent collapse of the investment bank, Peregrine, followed by the collapse of CA Pacific, public confidence in financial companies has been seriously undermined.

Shares in local brokerage companies dropped sharply on Wednesday as public anxiety grew about the health of Hong Kong's financial sector.
 

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