Hong Kong stocks close higher with low turnover

Hong Kong stocks closed higher on Friday, the last trading day of the year with the lowest turnover in the past three years. The benchmark Hang Seng index closed up 36.47 points, or 0.2 percent, to end at 18,434.39 points, after trading between a day high of 18,506.27 and a day low of 18,415.85 points. Turnover totaled 24.47 billion HK dollars (about 3.15 billion U. S. dollars), more than 15 percent lower than the last trading day. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index gained 5.15 points, or 0. 05 percent, to close at 9,949.73. Of the four sub-indices, the Finance and Utilities gained ground, up 0.4 and 0.97 percent respectively. Both the Properties and Commerce & Industry lost ground, dropping 0.38 and 0.02 percent. Banking giant HSBC, which accounts for the largest weighting of the Hang Seng Index, moved up 1.03 percent to close at 59 HK dollars, whereas its local unit Hang Seng Bank moved down 0.22 percent to 92.15 HK dollars. Hong Kong Exchange lost 0.16 percent to 124.1 HK dollars. China Mobile gained 1.2 percent to 57 HK dollars. As for the mainland-based financial stocks, ICBC, the world's largest bank by market value, lost 0.43 percent to 4.61 HK dollars. China's second largest insurer Ping An gained 0.49 percent at 51.2 HK dollars. China LIfe, another important insurer in China, gained 0.42 percent to 19.2 HK dollars. Both China Construction Bank and Bank of China didn't move during the trading day, with their shares stayed at 5.42 HK dollars and 2.86 HK dollars respectively. Shares of Hong Kong developers ended mixed during the trading day. Hang Lung Properties lost 0.45 percent to 22.1 HK dollars. Henderson Land, another major developer in Hong Kong, rose 1.05 percent to 38.6 HK dollars, and Cheung Kong Holding, a powerful HK- based developer controlled by billionaire Li Ka-shing, went down 1. 62 percent to 92.4 HK dollars. PetroChina, the country's largest oil and gas producer, lost 0. 41 percent to 9.67 HK dollars. China Shenhua gained 1.61 percent to 33.7 HK dollars. China's top refiner Sinopec and CNOOC remained the same as yesterday at 8.17 HK dollars and 13.58 HK dollars. Belle Int'l was the best performing blue chip in the day, with its shares rising 3.04 percent to 13.54 HK dollars. Hengan Int'l lost the most in the day, with its shares falling 2.94 percent to 72.65 HK dollars. (1 U.S. dollar equals 7.77 HK dollars)