Chinanews.cn

Hong Kong stocks on Tuesday repeated its track of the previous session, opening higher, building on gains in the morning trading and then paring its gainsto close at 21,640.89, down 218.45 points, or 1.00 percent.

    The closing reading was also the day's low for the benchmark Hang Seng Index, which once shot to as high as 22,309.33. Turnover totaled 70.52 billion HK dollars (8.98 U.S. dollars), up from Monday's 57.59 billion HK dollars (7.38 billion U.S. dollars).

    China Mobile, the largest mobile carrier on the Chinese mainland and one of the Hong Kong market heavyweights, alone contributed a loss of 116.28 points to the blue-chip index as it slumped 4.55 percent to close at 94.5 HK dollars.

    Some of the brokers and analysts had previously said the company was enjoying less regulatory favor and that its earnings capability could be affected, with some tipping it to move down further to possibly below the 90 HK dollar level.

    The weakness of China Mobile shares showed the generally bearish market sentiment, which can also be seen from relatively low turnover in the recent days, analysts said, tipping for the Hang Seng Index to move in a narrow range in recent term.

    The mainland-based oil giants also contributed part of the blue- chip losses, with PetroChina losing 2.36 percent at 9.94 HK dollars, Sinopec losing 3.82 percent at 8.06 HK dollars and offshore oil producer CNOOC down 2.15 percent at 10 HK dollars.

    Commercial banking giant HSBC edged down 0.1 HK dollars, or 0. 08 percent, at 128.2 HK dollars, and its local unit Hang Seng Banklost 1.48 percent at 159.4 HK dollars.

    The financial sub-index lost 0.88 percent at 34,026.85, the commerce and industry category lost 197.58 points, or 1.68 percent, at 11,590.66, and the utilities sub-index edged down 17.23 points, or 0.04 percent, at 43,824.38.

    The properties sub-index bucked the trend to be the only gainer, going up 190.13 points, or 0.73 percent, to 26,125.40. It was also one of the contributors to the morning gains of the blue-chip index, which seemed to track mainland rebound.

    Sun Hung Kai Properties, the leading residential house developer in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, added 1.35 percent at 112.5 HK dollars.

    Cheung Kong, the real property conglomerate headed by Hong Kong' s richest man Li Kai-shing, edged up 0.6 HK dollars, or 0.55percent, at 109.9 HK dollars.

    China Unicom, one of the major mobile carriers on the mainland but a far second to China Mobile, added 0.39 percent, or 0.06 HK dollars, to close at 15.46 HK dollars.

    HKEx, the only stock exchange in Hong Kong, added 0.6 HK dollars, or 0.56 percent, to close at 106.8 HK dollars amid mixed views on its prospect in the short run.

    ICBC, one of the mainland state-owned commercial banking giant, lost 0.16 percent to close at 5.55 HK dollars, Bank of China lost 1.15 percent and China Construction Bank lost 0.08 HK dollar, or 1. 20 percent, to close at 6.6 HK dollars.

    BOC Hong Kong added 0.06 HK dollars, or 0.31 percent, at 19.6 HK dollars.

    Mainland insurer Ping An slumped 3 percent, or 1.5 HK dollars, to close at 48.5 HK dollars, and China Life lost 0.35 HK dollars, or 1.24 percent, at 28 HK dollars.

    Coal giant China Shenhua went down 0.84 percent to 23.75 HK dollars. (7.8 HK dollars = 1 U.S. dollar)