Hong Kong shares ended lower on Friday, after the choppy trading in a relatively tight range on the weak sentiment as investors awaited the U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's speech that may hint at how the Fed can stimulate the economy.
Hong Kong stocks fell 169.60 points, or 0.86 percent, to close at 19,582.88 on Friday. The benchmark Hang Seng Index traded between 19,549.53 and 19,919.92. Turnover totaled 58.71 billion HK dollars (about 7.53 billion U.S. dollars).
The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index fell 130.81 points, or 1.25 percent, to close at 10,299.58.
Three sub-indices lost ground, with the Commerce and Industry sub-index falling the most by 1.15 percent, followed by the Finance 0.76 percent, and the Properties 0.74 percent. The Utility sub-index rose 0.15 percent.
Hong Kong share market weakness is broad-based, although Chinese financial stocks are mostly outperforming.
PetroChina was down 3.6 percent at 9.17 HK dollars after the China's largest oil producer by capacity reported on Thursday a weaker-than-expected 1.0 percent rise in first-half net profit to 66.01 billion yuan (about 10.33 U.S. dollars) as refining losses offset higher oil prices and strong energy demand.
China Cosco fell 1.0 percent at 4.14 HK dollars after the shipping company said on Friday it swung to a first-half net loss of 2.71 billion yuan because of a slowdown in the international trade, as well as higher fuel costs.
Bucking the trend, ICBC rose by 1.4 percent to 4.92 HK dollars on Friday after the China's largest bank by assets reported on Thursday a 29 percent increase in first-half net profit to a record 109.48 billion yuan.
China Construction Bank ended flat at 5.29 HK dollars, off an intraday high of 5.54 HK dollars, after news of Warren Buffett's 5 billion U.S. dollars cash injection into Bank of America, which significantly eases concerns that the U.S. bank will have to sell at least part of its CCB stake, with the lock-up period expiring on Monday.
Among other blue chips, HKEX, the city's sole bourse operator, closed 0.6 percent lower to 141.70 HK dollars. Hang Seng Bank dropped 0.8 percent to 110.30 HK dollars. (7.795 HK dollars = 1 U. S. dollar)
Source: Xinhua