Hong Kong stocks close up 0.46%

Hong Kong stocks rose 116.23 points, or 0.46 percent, to close on Thursday at 25,398.85 points.

The benchmark Hang Seng Index traded between 25,250.36 and 25, 500.99. Turnover totaled 79.82 billion HK dollars (10.3 billion U. S. dollars).

The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index moved up 100.2 points, or 0.85 percent, to close at 11,834.47 points.

Three of the four sub-indices gained ground. The Finance sub- index rose 0.68 percent, followed by the Utilities 0.61 percent and the Commerce & Industry 0.3 percent, while the Properties sub- index dropped 0.02 percent.

Banking giant HSBC, which accounts for the largest weighting of the Hang Seng Index, rose 0.29 percent to 70.35 HK dollars.

Bank of East Asia, one of the largest local banks in Hong Kong, lost 0.46 percent to close at 32.7 HK dollars.

Local bourse operator HKEX gained 0.09 percent to 222.4 HK dollars.

China Mobile, China's dominant mobile carrier, shrank 0.3 percent to 100.7 HK dollars. China Unicom, another Chinese telecom giant, dropped 1.05 percent to 11.34 HK dollars.

Local property stocks closed mixed. Sun Hung Kai, one of Hong Kong's largest property developer by market value, ended flat at 124 HK dollars. Henderson Land rose 1.43 percent to 53.15 HK dollars. CKH Holdings slid 0.09 percent to 114.4 HK dollars.

Mainland-based financial stocks moved up. Bank of China rose 0. 68 percent to close at 4.47 HK dollars. China Construction Bank gained 0.46 percent to 6.53 HK dollars. ICBC advanced 0.36 percent to 5.59 HK dollars. Bank of Communication rose 0.7 percent to 7.2 HK dollars.

As for energy stocks, China's top refiner Sinopec increased 0. 33 percent to 6.1 HK dollars. PetroChina, the country's largest oil and gas producer, rose 0.13 percent to 7.92 HK dollars. CNOOC lost 0.4 percent to 9.91 HK dollars.