Hong Kong stocks fell on Friday due to profit-taking after a four-day rally, but bargain hunting limited the decline.
The Hang Seng Index fell 45.08 points, or 0.2 percent, to 22, 921.89 after trading between 22,629.49 and 22,933.80 during the session.
Turnover reached 83.29 billion Hong Kong dollars (10.68 billion U.S. dollars), down from 114.53 billion Hong Kong dollars (14.68 billion U.S. dollars) Thursday.
Traders said China's relaxation of controls on overseas equity investments will continue to boost the market. They expect the index to breach the psychologically important short-term level of 23,000 next week.
The Hang Seng Index's decline Friday came after it posted gains totaling 2,579 points over the previous four sessions. "Profit- taking is to be expected amid persistent concerns over U.S. subprime problems and a possible economic slowdown there, but we think strong interim results should provide support to the local market," said ICEA Securities in a research note.
Most Hong Kong-listed companies report their first-half earnings in August and September. The benchmark index recovered most of its declines in the afternoon session on gains in China Mobile and other China-related companies on the relaxation of the controls on investments.
China Mobile, the largest blue chip on the index, rose to a record close after posting gains for the fifth consecutive trading day. It gained 0.7 percent to 96.60 Hong Kong dollars.
Chinese insurers rose on hopes over their investments in the mainland after China's stock market posted a series of record closes this week. China Life rose 2 percent to 33.65 Hong Kong dollars, while Ping An Insurance gained 4.6 percent to 74.05 Hong Kong dollars.
Bank of China dropped 5.4 percent to 3.87 Hong Kong dollars despite stronger-than-expected first-half results, after it said it has a 9.65 billion U.S. dollars exposure to subprime assets.
However, Citigroup said investors shouldn't panic as Bank of China's subprime exposure is just 1.2 percent of its total assets and the potential loss of 151 million U.S. dollars assessed by the lender's management isn't significant.
Hutchison Whampoa, a conglomerate controlled by tycoon Li Ka- shing, fell 0.6 percent to 76.75 Hong Kong dollars after CLSA downgraded its rating to underperform from buy. The brokerage also cut its price target to 84 Hong Kong dollars from 98 Hong Kong dollars.
Casualwear retailer Giordano dropped 1 percent to 3.66 Hong Kong dollars after it reported a 5.3 percent decline in first-half net profit to 143 million Hong Kong dollars.
The finance sub-index went down 111.13 points or 0.31 percent to 35,418.98.
The properties sub-index dropped 232.92 points or 0.86 percent at 26,774.26.
The commerce and industry sub-index went up 16.81 points or 0. 13 percent to 12,900.68.
The utilities sub-index fell 356.87 points or 0.98 percent at 35,904.00.
Source: Xinhua
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