Hong Kong shares rose to a record high on Wednesday morning but plunged in the afternoon due to profit-taking pressure.
The Hang Seng Index ended 719.81 points, or 2.6 percent lower at 27,479.94, after trading between 27,245.48 and an intraday record of 28,871.04.
Turnover reached its highest-ever level of 209.81 billion Hong Kong dollars (27.08 billion U.S. dollars), up sharply from a previous record of 163.13 billion Hong Kong dollars (21.04 billion U.S. dollars) Tuesday.
Analysts said the correction was expected as valuations have become high, but they added the benchmark index should find support around its current level as the buying spree isn't over yet.
The value of trading has rocketed recently, with daily turnover never having risen above 100 billion Hong Kong dollars (12.90 billion U.S. dollars) before June. Meanwhile, the benchmark index has risen 17.6 percent since Sept. 1.
Chinese oil producers were among the day's biggest decliners, partly because the crude oil price fell 19 U.S. cents overnight to 80.05 U.S. dollars a barrel.
PetroChina dropped 6.3 percent to 14.00 Hong Kong dollars on profit-taking after it gained 30 percent in the past month. Sinopec fell 6.1 percent to 9.39 Hong Kong dollars and offshore oil producer CNOOC slid 5.6 percent to 12.56 Hong Kong dollars.
Experts said they don't expect further major corrections in the benchmark index because of continued fund inflows.
Though most of those companies fell during the afternoon on profit-taking, heavyweights HSBC and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China stayed in the black. HSBC rose 2.6 percent to 147.70 Hong Kong dollars.
ICBC, China's largest bank by assets, added 0.7 percent to 5.74 Hong Kong dollars after earlier hitting a high of 6.03 Hong Kong dollars. Also bucking the trend was Hong Kong and China Gas, which rose 9 percent to 19.72 Hong Kong dollars on expectations Henderson Land will continue to raise its stake in the piped gas provider after saying it will buy the 39.06 percent stake in Towngas owned by unit Henderson Investment.
The finance sub-index dropped 438.57 points or 1.03 percent to 42,244.50.
The properties sub-index plunged 1,920.56 points or 5.65 percent at 32,048.96.
The commerce and industry sub-index went down 633.88 points or 3.85 percent to 15,826.33.
The utilities sub-index rose 415.50 points or 1.14 percent at 36,981.89.
Source: Xinhua
|
Comment
Tell A Friend
Print Format
Save Article