HK Stocks Down to End Near 17,000-Point Support levelHong Kong stocks ended 216.98 points, or 1.26 percent down, at 17,019.76 points Monday under the pressure of profit-taking in the banking and property sectors.Sub-indices of Finance, Properties and Industry & Commerce declined by 3.33 percent, 1.35 percent and 0.11 percent respectively while that of Utilities picked up 0.09 percent. The turnover was a weak 8.215 billion HK dollars (1.053 billion US dollars), compared with Friday's 11.164 billion HK dollars (1.431 billion US dollars). Analysts said the sluggish trading was the result of a wait-and-see attitude of most investors ahead of Wednesday's expiration of the Hang Seng August futures, which could affect the market's short-term direction. China-related shares ended mixed with the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index rising 0.91 percent and the Hang Seng China-Affiliated Corp Index dropping 0.85 percent. The Hang Seng IT Index and Hang Seng IT Portfolio Index edged up 1.38 percent and 0.31 percent respectively. |
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