The Hong Kong Monetary Authority continued to intervene to defend the local currency's peg to the US dollar during New York trading hours on Wednesday, buying $8.58 billion from the market to take the total for the month past $100 billion.

The Hong Kong dollar is under pressure after recent increases in US interest rates and has been consistently close to the top end of its trading band with the greenback. Bloomberg reported that the pace of the authority's purchases had reached a record level.

The HKMA's latest purchases, in addition to two interventions in Hong Kong trading hours on Wednesday, will reduce the aggregate balance, a key measure of liquidity in the SAR's financial system, to $233.308 billion on Friday.

Earlier this week, HKMA chief Eddie Yue warned that the organisation may have to get more aggressive in its currency buying as interest rates in Hong Kong fail to catch up with those in the United States.