Hong Kong stocks close 0.49% higher

Hong Kong stocks ended 0.49 percent higher on Tuesday, with the benchmark Hang Seng index adding 100.82 points to end at 20,683.01 points, after trading between 20,571.55 and 20,767.58. Turnover totaled 44 billion HK dollars (about 5.67 billion U.S. dollars). The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index fell 12.07 points, or 0.13 percent, to close at 9,051.23. All of the four sub-indices gained ground, with the Utility sub-index rising the most by 1.21 percent, followed by the Finance 0.62 percent, the Properties and the Commerce & Industry adding 0.49 percent and 0.22 percent, respectively. Banking giant HSBC, which accounts for the largest weighting of the Hang Seng Index, rose 1.27 percent to 83.9 HK dollars, while its local unit Hang Seng Bank closed 0.44 percent higher at 114.4 HK dollars. Local bourse operator HKEX gained 0.78 percent to 116.4 HK dollars. While Bank of East Asia, another Hong Kong major bank, closed down 0.54 percent at 27.5 HK dollars. Mainland banks remained weak. ICBC, the world's largest bank by market value, was unchanged at 4.74 HK dollars. China Construction Bank also ended flat to 5. 25 HK dollars, and Bank of Communications down 0.42 percent to 4.79 HK dollars, while Bank of China slipped 0.33 percent to 3.06 HK dollars. The performance of local property stocks are mixed. Cheung Kong Holding, a powerful HK-based developer controlled by billionaire Li Ka-shing, was unchanged to end at 103.5 HK dollars. Sun Hung Kai Properties shed 0.15 percent to 98.75 HK dollars. Henderson Land, another major developer in Hong Kong, rose 1.83 percent to 47.3 HK dollars. Hang Lung Properties added 0.39 percent to 25.6 HK dollars. Oil companies were stronger. PetroChina, the country's largest oil and gas producer, moved up 0.9 percent to 8.98 HK dollars. China's top refiner Sinopec rallied 0.95 percent to close at 5.3 HK dollars. While the HK-listed unit of China's National Offshore Oil Corporation, CNOOC, gained 0.15 percent to 13.16 HK dollars. China Resources Enterprise was the best-performing blue chip in the day by increasing 3.64 percent to 24.2 HK dollars. (1 U.S. dollar = 7.761 HK dollars)