Hong Kong stocks end down after 4-day winning streak

Hong Kong stocks fell on Thursday, snapping a four-day winning streak, led by declines in property developers. The benchmark Hang Seng Index closed down 32.87 points, or 0.14 percent, at 23,211.48. The index traded between 23,353.68 and 23,126.81 during the day. Turnover totaled 56.07 billion HK dollars ( 7.22 billion U.S. dollars). The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index fell 17.85 points, or 0.16 percent, to close at 11,266.89. Four sub-indices closed mixed, with the Commerce & Industry falling the most by 0.2 percent, followed by the Properties 0.19 percent and the Finance 0.11 percent. The Utilities edged up 0.04 percent. Local property developers led the declines. Sun Hung Kai, HK's largest property developer by market value, fell 0.63 percent to 111.2 HK dollars. Cheung Kong properties, a leading developer owned by billionaire Li Ka-shing, dipped 0.08 percent to 118.3 HK dollars. Banking giant HSBC, which accounts for the largest weighting of the Hang Seng Index, went up 0.28 percent to 87.95 HK dollars. Its local unit Hang Seng Bank closed at 129.7 HK dollars, down 0.15 percent. As for mainland-based financial stocks, China Construction Bank, the country's second largest bank which accounts for the third largest weighting of the Hang Seng Index, ended 0.15 percent lower at 6.57 HK dollars. ICBC, the world's largest bank by market value, retreated 0.18 percent to 5.59 HK dollars. Bank of China went up 0. 53 percent to 3.79 HK dollars. As for energy stocks, China's top refiner Sinopec dropped 0.35 percent to 8.65 HK dollars. PetroChina, the country's largest oil and gas producer, fell 0.19 percent to 10.24 HK dollars.