Hong Kong shares close 0.24% higher

Hong Kong stocks closed slightly up on Friday, ending up 42.62 points or 0.24 percent at 18,025.72 ahead of the European summit this weekend to study and resolve the debt crisis. The benchmark Hang Seng Index traded in a narrow range of 156 points during the day's session with turnover decreasing significantly to 44.92 billion HK dollars from 52.8 billion on Thursday. Analysts said HSI saw 200 points of range-bound trade recently above 18,000, suggesting that the market was awaiting announcement to be released. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index rose 23.05 points, or 0.25 percent, to close at 9,219.73. Market heavyweight HSBC edged up 0.2 percent to 63.1 HK dollars, while China Mobile went down 1 percent to 74.55 HK dollars. The Chinese mainland lenders drove the market growth. Bank of Communications and ICBC added nearly 2 percent to close at 4.65 HK dollars and 4.15 HK dollars respectively. CCB gained 1 percent to 5.12 HK dollars. Bank of China rose 0.8 percent to 2.65 HK dollars. Mainland banks will soon announcement results which are expected to be satisfactory because of widened interest spreads, analysts said. Insurer Ping An gave up over 3 percent to 48.3 HK dollars and China Life dipped over 1 percent to 17.42 HK dollars. China Coal put on 3.3 percent to 8.13 HK dollars after it said the Dong Po mine has resumed production.