Hong Kong stocks Thursday lost 188.53 points, or 0.95 percent, at 19,595.14, tracking steep declines on Wall Street overnight due to concerns over Europe's sovereignty debt problems.
The benchmark Hang Seng Index traded between 19,728.88 and 19,269.41. Turnover totaled 77.98 billion HK dollars (about 10 billion U.S. dollars).
The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index fell 77.68 points, or 0.73 percent, to close at 10,502.73.
Three of the four sub-indices lost ground. The Properties sub-index lost the most, dropping 1.43 percent, followed by the Finance sub-index, falling 1.25 percent, the Commerce and Industry, retreating 0.66 percent. The Utilities was up 0.27 percent.
Heavyweight HSBC Holdings, contributing 86 points to the decline of the benchmark index, fell 2.9 percent to 67 HK dollars. China Mobile was up 1.93 percent to 74 HK dollars.
Mainland lenders ended mixed. China Construction Bank, moved up 1.7 percent to 5.35 HK dollars. Bank of China rose 1.3 percent to 3.05 HK dollars. Bank of Communications dipped 0.28 percent to 5.56 HK dollars. ICBC lost 1 percent to 4.96 HK dollars.
Insurance stocks closed lower. China Life lost 1.83 percent to 21.45 HK dollars. Ping An fell 1.18 percent to 62.75 HK dollars.
Property heavyweights moved down. Cheung Kong Holding, a powerful HK-based developer controlled by billionaire Li Ka-shing, dropped 1.58 percent to 106.2 HK dollars. Sun Hung Kai Properties closed at 105.6 HK dollars, slipping 1.31 percent. Henderson Land ended 0.34 percent lower to 43.8 HK dollars.
As for energy and resources shares, the HK listed unit of China 's National Offshore Oil Corporation, CNOOC, lost 1.52 percent to 14.3 HK dollars. China Shenhua went down 1.33 percent to 33.35 HK dollars. PetroChina declined 1.68 percent to 9.37 HK dollars. (1 U. S. dollar = 7.8 HK dollars)
Source: Xinhua