Hong Kong stocks end 1.05% lower

Hong Kong stocks plummeted 230.81 points, or 1.05 percent, to close at 21,838.43 points on Thursday. The benchmark Hang Seng Index traded between a day high of 21, 949.81 points and a day low of 21,799.25 points. Turnover shrank to 58.41 billion HK dollars (7.53 billion U.S. dollars) from Tuesday's 59.11 billion HK dollars. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index lost 111.96 points, or 1. 07 percent, to close at 10,361.22. All four sub-indices lost ground, with the Properties shrinking the most by 1.38 percent, followed by the Commerce & Industry, 1. 16 percent, the Utilities, 0.96 percent, and the Finance, 0.90 percent. Banking giant HSBC lost 0.64 percent to close at 85.45 HK dollars. China Mobile, China's dominant mobile carrier, ended down 1.25 percent at 79.3 HK dollars. Mainland lenders lost ground with ICBC, China's largest bank by market value, edged down 1.12 percent to close at 5.3 HK dollars. CCB, the country's second largest lender by market capitalization, decreased 1.13 percent to close at 6.15 HK dollars. BOC, one of the "big four", ended 0.55 percent lower at 3.65 HK dollars. Local property developers also ended lower. Sun Hung Kai, HK's largest property developer by market value, moved down 0.25 percent to close at 99.95 HK dollars. Cheung Kong properties, owned by billionaire Li Ka-shing, ended flat to 105.8 HK dollars. PetroChina, the country's largest oil and gas producer, moved down 0.78 percent to 8.93 HK dollars. Sinopec, China's top refiner, lost 1.39 percent at 7.78 HK dollars. (1 U.S. dollar is equivalent to 7.76 HK dollars)