Hong Kong stocks close 0.34% higher

Hong Kong stocks closed up 79.28 points, or 0.34 percent, at 23,171.80 on Thursday.

The benchmark Hang Seng Index opened 75.35 points higher at 23, 167.87 and traded between 23,269.36 and 23,083.16 during the day's session.

Turnover totaled 70.22 billion HK dollars (about 9.04 billion U. S. dollars) compared with Wednesday's 77.71 billion HK dollars.

The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index dipped 4.44 points or 0. 03 percent to close at 12,731.42.

All of the four sub-indices gained ground. The Utilities sub- index was the biggest gainer, rising 0.5 percent, followed by the Commerce and Industry, moving up 0.42 percent, the Finance, 0.31 percent, the Properties, 0.11 percent.

Heavyweight HSBC rose 1 percent to 80.90 HK dollars, while China Mobile rose 0.45 percent to 78 HK dollars.

Chinese mainland lenders all closed down. Bank of China ended flat at 4.11 HK dollars. ICBC lost 1.7 percent to 5.86 HK dollars. China Construction Bank down 0.57 percent at 6.96 HK dollars. Bank of Communications inched down 0.25 percent to 8.05 HK dollars.

As for local developers, Cheung Kong, a flagship of Hong Kong led by billionaire Li Ka-shing, up 0.26 percent at 114.2 HK dollars. SHK rose 0.77 percent to 130.5 HK dollars. Henderson moved down 0.37 percent to 53.55 HK dollars.

PetroChina gained 1.32 percent at 9.96 HK dollars, Sinopec down 0.14 percent at 7.14 HK dollars. Offshore oil producer CNOOC gained 1.23 percent at 18.14 HK dollars.(1 U.S.dollar is equivalent to 7.77 HK dollar)

Source: Xinhua