HK shares close 1.31% lower, China Shenhua leads decline
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Hong Kong stocks fell below 23,000 mark and went down 304.28 points, or 1.31 percent to close at 22,949.56 Friday.
The benchmark Hang Seng Index opened 84.92 points, or 0.37 percent lower at 23,338.76, then traded between 22,932.48 and 23,338.76 during the day's session. Turnover totaled 79.42 billion HK dollars (about 10.21 billion U.S. dollars).
The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index went down 226.20 points, or 1.74 percent, to close at 12,750.66.
All of the four sub-indices lost ground. The Properties sub-index was the biggest loser, dropping 2.04 percent, followed by the Utilities, losing 1.73 percent. The Commerce and Industry went down 1.50 percent and the Finance ended 0.93 percent lower.
Banking giant HSBC, which accounts for the largest weighting of the Hang Seng Index, became the best performing blue chip in the day, surged 0.5 percent to close at 80.4 HK dollars, bucking up the downward trend.
The local unit Hang Seng Bank dropped 0.74 percent to 121.60 HK dollars. Bank of East Asia, another major bank in Hong Kong, ended 1.35 percent lower at 32.85 HK dollars. Local bourse operator Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing lost 1.16 percent to 169.8 HK dollars.
Mainland-based lenders eased. ICBC, the world's largest bank by market value, finished down 1.87 percent at 6.29 HK dollars. China Construction Bank dropped 1.94 percent at 7.06 HK dollars, and Bank of Communications down 1.89 percent to 7.78 HK dollars, while Bank of China lost 1.22 percent to close at 4.04 HK dollars.
Local Property stocks also put in weak shows. Cheung Kong Holding, a powerful HK-based developer controlled by billionaire Li Ka-shing, moved down 2.01 percent to 116.8 HK dollars. Sun Hung Kai Properties ended 2.01 percent lower to 116.8 HK dollars. Henderson Land, another major developer in Hong Kong, lost 1.46 percent to 50.65 HK dollars. Hang Lung Properties also went down 2.62 percent to 31.55 HK dollars.
As for oils shares, the country's largest oil and gas producer PetroChina moved down 1.63 percent to 10.86 HK dollars. China's top refiner Sinopec dropped 0.9 percent, to close at 7.67 HK dollars. While the HK-listed unit of China's National Offshore Oil Corporation, CNOOC, dropped 0.95 percent to 18.78 HK dollars.
Leading the decline, China Shenhua plunged 6.41 percent to 35.8 HK dollars, as the National Development and Reform Commission announced to investigate the price raising of coal.
Bucking the trend, China's biggest Internet company Tencent Holding added 0.18 percent to 221 HK dollars.
