Hong Kong - Xinhua
Hong Kong stocks ended lower on Thursday with property and resource shares among the leading decliners. The benchmark Hang Seng index closed down 120.75 points, or 0. 65 percent, to end at 18,397.92 points, after trading between a day high of 18,409.12 and a day low of 18,293.81 points. Turnover totaled 29.01 billion HK dollars (about 3.73 billion U. S. dollars). The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index fell 35.93 points, or 0. 36 percent, to close at 9,944.58. All the four sub-indices lost ground. The Properties sub-index fell the most of 0.95 percent, followed by the Finance 0.87 percent, the Utilities 0.53 percent and the Commerce & Industry 0. 35 percent. Most blue chips fell during the trading day. Banking giant HSBC, which accounts for the largest weighting of the Hang Seng Index, fell 1.35 percent to close at 58.4 HK dollars, and its local unit Hang Seng Bank moved down 0.32 percent to 92.35 HK dollars. China Mobile gained 0.6 percent to 57 HK dollars. Mainland-based financial stocks also hurt. China Construction Bank, the country\'s second largest bank which accounts for the third largest weighting of the Hang Seng Index, fell 0.91 percent to 5.42 HK dollars. ICBC, the world\'s largest bank by market value, lost 1.49 percent to 4.63 HK dollars. China\'s second largest insurer Ping An lost 0.39 percent at 50.95 HK dollars. As for Hong Kong developers, Hang Lung Properties lost 0.89 percent to 22.2 HK dollars. Henderson Land, another major developer in Hong Kong, rose 1.73 percent to 38.2 HK dollars, and Cheung Kong Holding, a powerful HK-based developer controlled by billionaire Li Ka-shing, went down 0.91 percent to 92.55 HK dollars. China\'s top refiner Sinopec fell 0.97 percent to 8.17 HK dollars. PetroChina, the country\'s largest oil and gas producer, gained 0.41 percent to 9.71 HK dollars. CNOOC lost 1.02 percent to 13.58 HK dollars. Sino Land was the best performing blue chip in the day, with its shares rising 1.85 percent to 11 HK dollars. China Overseas lost the most in the day, with its shares falling 4.93 percent to 13.12 HK dollars.