Hong Kong stocks close down 2.48%

Hong Kong stocks closed down 2.48 percent on Wednesday. The benchmark Hang Seng Index moved down 511.34 points to close at 20,147.31 points, after trading between a day high of 20,590.32 points and a day low of 20,119.56 points. Turnover shrank to 67.99 billion HK dollars (8.76 billion U.S. dollars) from last Wednesday's 69.74 billion HK dollars. The H-Share Index moved down 303.6 points, or 3.3 percent, to end at 8,900.25 points. Banking giant HSBC ended down 2.09 percent at 79.8 HK dollars. China Mobile, China's dominant mobile carrier, lowered 2.79 percent at 78.4 HK dollars. Mainland lenders listed in Hong Kong lost. ICBC, China's largest bank by market value, plummeted 4 percent to close at 4.56 HK dollars. CCB, the country's second largest lender by market capitalization, ended down 2.46 percent at 5.15 HK dollars. BOC, one of the "big four", decreased 2.89 percent to close at 3.02 HK dollars. ' For local property developers, Sun Hung Kai, HK's largest property developer by market value, shrank 2.25 percent at 97.7 HK dollars. Cheung Kong properties, owned by billionaire Li Ka-shing, edged down 2.11 percent to 102.2 HK dollars. PetroChina, the country's largest oil and gas producer ended flat at 8.8 HK dollars. Sinopec, China's top refiner, ended down 3. 94 percent to 5.12 HK dollars. China Life, one of the world's largest life insurers by market value, ended down 3.21 percent at 17.5 HK dollars. (1 U.S. dollar equals 7.76 HK dollars).