Hong Kong stocks close 0.46% lower

Hong Kong stocks fell 108.19 points, or 0.46 percent, to close at 23,228.33 points on Wednesday. The benchmark Hang Seng Index traded between 23,350.94 and 23,128.69. Turnover totaled 54.16 billion HK dollars (about 6.99 billion U.S. dollars). The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index fell 41.39 points, or 0.39 percent, to close at 10,629.78. All of the four sub-indices lost ground, with the Properties sub-index falling the most at 0.61 percent, followed by the Finance and the Commerce & Industry sub-indices, both retreated 0.64 percent, the Utilities lowered 0.24 percent. Banking giant HSBC, which accounts for the largest weighting of the Hang Seng Index, fell 0.29 percent to 84.90 HK dollars, while its local unit Hang Seng Bank closed flat at 128.30 HK dollars. Bank of East Asia, another Hong Kong's major bank, rose 0.15 percent to end at 32.95 HK dollars. Local bourse operator HKEX was down 0.78 percent to 126.60 HK dollars. Local developers closed mixed. Hang Lung Properties lost 1.55 percent to 25.35 HK dollars. Henderson Land, another major developer in Hong Kong, added 0.33 percent to 46.30 HK dollars, and Cheung Kong Holding, a powerful HK-based developer controlled by billionaire Li Ka-shing, lost 0.25 percent to 121.90 HK dollars. Sun Hung Kai Properties moved down 0.19 percent to 103.10 HK dollars. As for mainland-based financial stocks, China Construction Bank dropped 0.33 percent to 6.06 HK dollars. ICBC decreased 0.36 percent to 5.53 HK dollars. Bank of China fell 0.55 percent to 3.62 HK dollars. Bank of Communications went down 0.52 percent to 5. 77 HK dollars. PetroChina was up 1 percent at 9.08 HK dollars. Sinopec lowered 0.8 percent to 6.20 HK dollars. (1 U.S. dollar equals 7.75 HK dollars)