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Roundup: Hong Kong stocks close 1.11 percent lower

Xinhua, March 5, 2015 Adjust font size:

Hong Kong stocks dropped 272.34 points, or 1.11 percent, to close on Thursday at 24,193.04 points, after the benchmark Hang Seng Index trading between 24,393.85 and 24,133.71.

Turnover totaled 92.13 billion HK dollars (11.89 billion U.S. dollars).

The People's Bank of China (PBOC), China's central bank, continued to drain liquidity out of the financial system via its routine open market operations this week.

The central bank conducted 40 billion yuan worth of 7-day reverse repos via its Thursday's open market operations with the annualized yield flat at 3.75 percent, having an impact on both Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland's financial market.

The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index ended down 140.9 points, or 1.2 percent, to close at 11,597.77 points.

All of the four sub-indices lost ground. The Properties and Commerce & Industry sub-indices dropped 0.98 percent and 0.45 percent respectively. The Finance lost 1.8 percent and the Utilities slid 0.05 percent.

Banking giant HSBC, which accounts for the largest weighting of the Hang Seng Index, closed down 0.5 percent to 67.9 HK dollars, while its local unit Hang Seng Bank rose 0.21 percent to 142.5 HK dollars. Local bourse operator HKEX lost 0.85 percent at 175.8 HK dollars.

Blue chips led the drop. China Shenhua Energy retreated 2.94 percent to 19.18 HK dollars. PetroChina fell 1.63 percent to 8.45 HK dollars.

Galaxy Entertainment dropped 2.57 percent to 37.85 HK dollars. Sands China lost 2.27 percent to 34.5 HK dollars.

Local developers Hang Lung Properties fell 2 percent to 22 HK dollars. Swire Pacific Limited 'A', another major developer in Hong Kong, dropped 1.89 percent to 104 HK dollars, and Cheung Kong Holding, a powerful HK-based developer controlled by billionaire Li Ka-shing, receded 0.71 percent to 153.2 HK dollars.

Mainland-based financial stocks also receded. Bank of China lost 1.63 percent to 4.23 HK dollars. Bank of Communications dropped 2.17 percent to 6.3 HK dollars. Industrial and Commercial Bank of China fell 1.45 percent to 5.43 HK dollars.

Bucking the trend, China Unicom rose 2.79 percent to 12.54 HK dollars. China Mobile gained 1.68 percent to 102.8 HK dollars. Alibaba Pictures Group Limited surged 11 percent to 2.07 HK dollars over the market talk that Jack Ma may invest heavily in the film sector. Endi