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Roundup: Hong Kong stocks close 0.12 percent lower

Xinhua, March 6, 2015 Adjust font size:

Hong Kong stocks dropped 29.04 points, or 0.12 percent, to close on Friday at 24,164 points, after the benchmark Hang Seng Index trading between 24,294.36 and 24,126.09.

Turnover totaled 72.53 billion HK dollars (9.36 billion U.S. dollars).

The market ended lower this week as disappointment over China's lower economic growth target offset a pick-up on Wall Street ahead of the release of U.S. jobs data later in the day.

The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index ended up 9.16 points, or 0.08 percent, to close at 11,606.93 points.

Three of the four sub-indices lost ground. The Properties and Commerce & Industry sub-indices dropped 0.01 percent and 0.56 percent respectively. The Finance gained 0.25 percent while the Utilities slid 0.41 percent.

Banking giant HSBC, which accounts for the largest weighting of the Hang Seng Index, closed down 0.15 percent to 67.8 HK dollars, and its local unit Hang Seng Bank dropped 0.98 percent to 141 HK dollars.

Local bourse operator HKEX gained 0.17 percent at 176.1 HK dollars. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang mentioned in the government work report that the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect will be launched in due course.

Meanwhile, the chairman of China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) Xiao Gang expected the Stock Connect to be approved in the first half of 2015. CSRC will hold a press conference announcing the details of Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect in Beijing on Sunday, according to media reports.

Mainland-based telecom stocks led the drop. China Unicom fell 3. 03 percent to 12.16 HK dollars. China Mobile lost 1.46 percent to 101.3 HK dollars. Cheung Kong Holding, a powerful HK-based developer controlled by billionaire Li Ka-shing, slid 0.65 percent to 152.2 HK dollars.

Bucking the trend, mainland-based financial stocks rallied. China Everbright Bank rose 2.07 percent to 3.94 HK dollars. China Minsheng Banking Corp. was up 0.57 percent to 8.86 HK dollars.

Internet-related stocks also gained. China Binary Sale Technology surged 52 percent to 1.37 HK dollars. IGG Inc soared 19 percent to 3.56 HK dollars. Endi