Hong Kong stocks followed rises on the U.S. markets to open higher in the morning but failed to top the 30,000 mark, and closed Friday's trading 2.42 percent lower in the afternoon, partly due to profit taking.
The Hang Seng Index opened 331.72 points or 1.11 percent higher at 29,890.64. It once edged to 29,962.63 in the morning but dropped to as low as 28,838.94 in the afternoon.
The index finally went down 716.45 points, or 2.42 percent, to close at 28,842.47 on a quite high turnover of 140.12 billion HK dollars (17.99 billion U.S. dollars).
Analysts attributed the slump to profit taking, especially selling of the shares of heavyweight China Mobile due to a change in calculation methodology that would lead to lesser weighting of the mobile carrier giant in the benchmark Hang Seng Index.
China Mobile lost 3.4 HK dollars to close at 142.3 HK dollars while competitor China Unicom went down 0.06 HK dollars to 16.1 HKdollars.
Most bluechips were losers across the board, led by banks and property shares, while HSBC turned out the only gainer, moving up 3.1 HK dollars to 136.7 HK dollars.
The property sub-index suffered the most among the major categories, moving down 1,650.62 points, or 4.25 percent, to close at 37,217.52.
Sino Land fell as much as 9.46 percent to 25.35 HK dollars and Wharf moved down 3 HK dollars, or 6.36 percent, to close at 44.15 HK dollars. Industry giant Cheung Kong went down 6.3 HK dollars, or 4.27 percent, to close at 141.4 HK dollars.
The utilities sub-index dropped 1,565.97 points, or 3.79 percent, to close at 39,721.05 while the commerce and industry shares also slumped 577.08 points, or 3.27 percent, to close Friday's trading at 17,095.76.
The finance sub-index went down 431.9 points, or 1.02 percent, to close at 42,117.58.
HSBC unit Hang Seng Bank went down 6.8 HK dollars to 160.1 HK dollars.
Bank of China lost 0.06 HK dollars to 4.12 HK dollars while BOC Hong Kong went down 0.15 HK dollars to 21.55 HK dollars. ICBC went down 0.06 HK dollars to 6.23 HK dollars.
China Life went down 0.85 HK dollars to 43.8 HK dollars and Ping An lost 1.05 HK dollars to close at 90.25 HK dollars.
China Shenhua, the mainland coal industry giant, also bucked the trend to add 0.45 HK dollars to close at 49.05 HK dollars, partly thanks to the fact that it was expected to join the constituent stocks next week and market news of possible acquisition.
China Railway, the state-owned infrastructure construction giant, gained 1.58 HK dollars to close at 7.36 HK dollars on its first day of public trading, which analysts said was better than previous estimates.
Analysts further said they expected the Hang Seng Index to find support at 29,000 and resistance at 30,000. Whether it would top the 30,000 mark would largely depend on the decision of the U.S. Federal Reserve on rate cuts expected next week, they added.
The China Enterprises Index was likely to fluctuate between 17,500 and 18,200.
The market also saw a total of 6.88 billion HK dollars in short selling, with 22 percent on HSBC, the only bluechip market gainer on the market Friday.
The Hang Seng Index futures for December was currently at 29, 000.
Source: Xinhua
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