HK stocks end at 9-month low on Wall Street, Greek concerns
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Xinhua, June 16, 2011
Hong Kong shares fell for the third consecutive session on Thursday to a nine-month low after the Wall Street tumbled on weak U.S. economic data and renewed concerns about the risk of Greece defaulting on its sovereign debt.
Hong Kong stocks lost 390.66 points, or 1.75 percent, to close at 21,953.11 on Thursday. The benchmark Hang Seng Index traded between 21,874.89.00 and 22,065.46. Turnover totaled 76.74 billion HK dollars (about 9.84 billion U.S. dollars).
The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index fell 236.18 points, or 1.91 percent, to close at 12,161.42.
Four sub-indices all lost ground, with the Finance sub-index falling the most by 2.30 percent, followed by the Commerce and Industry 1.33 percent, the Properties 1.29 percent, and the Utilities 0.60 percent.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average sank 1.48 percent on Wednesday, a new three-month low. Greece was back in the spotlight amid political resistance to the austerity plans and a lack of progress from the European finance ministers regarding Greece's sovereign debt.
China banks extended declines after China announced on Tuesday its sixth reserve requirement ratio hike for banks so far this year. Bank of China declined 1.5 percent to 3.83 HK dollars and Agricultural Bank of China was 2.4 percent lower at 4.02 HK dollars.
Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing fell 2.6 percent to 160.80 HK dollars after Goldman Sachs downgraded the company to Neutral from Buy due to recent weakness in the benchmark index.
Luggage maker Samsonite was a victim of weak global sentiment. It got off to a poor start on its debut on the Hong Kong bourse on Thursday, falling to 13.38 HK dollars from its initial public offering price of 14.50 HK dollars per share.
Bucking the market trend, Alibaba.com rose 4.4 percent to 11.92 HK dollars after its parent Alibaba Group announced on Thursday a major restructuring of its key Taobao unit, splitting the popular Chinese e-commerce platform into three separate companies that focus on different segments of the market as it seeks to adjust to rapid growth and rising competition. (7.799 HK dollars = 1 U.S. dollar)
