HK shares down 2.4 pct; HSBC falls 24 pct on week

* HSBC shares shed 24 pct, $21 billion in market cap on wk

* CCB, BOC rise ahead of index rebalancing on Mon

* Resource counters fall on commodity price pullback

* Gold stocks buck trend on safe-haven appeal (Updates to close)

By Parvathy Ullatil

HONG KONG, March 6 (Reuters) - Hong Kong shares fell 2.4 percent on Friday, with HSBC (0005.HK) dropping to a 13-year closing low as bank stocks dipped globally, while China stocks also retreated as Beijing did not announce new stimulus spending as expected.

But Chinese lenders China Construction Bank (0939.HK) and Bank of China (3988.HK) rose ahead of the rebalancing of the Hang Seng Index on Monday, which will see a higher weighting for both the stocks. China Construction Bank rose 1.5 percent while Bank of China (3988.HK) climbed 1.4 percent.

HSBC fell 2.9 percent to HK$43.50.

The massive sell-off this week has seen the bank's shares dive 24 percent and its market value shrink by $21 billion after the London-based lender announced a $17.7 billion rights issue at a deep discount and slashed its dividend.

Its Hong Kong unit, Hang Seng Bank (0011.HK), slid for a fifth straight day, falling 7.4 percent to HK$73.60, after the lender reported a sharp drop in second-half earnings on Monday.

The benchmark Hang Seng Index .HSI ended 289.72 points lower at 11,921.52, taking the week's losses to 7 percent, its worst performance in seven weeks.

"We will test November 2008 lows again," said Peter Lai, director with DBS Vickers. "With the Dow and Tokyo market at record lows, there is no way Hong Kong can stay unaffected," Lai said.

"Funds have moved to Hong Kong in the past few weeks on hopes of big moves from China but since China has not announced anything tangible we can't stay unmoved for very long," he added.

Other financial stocks were also hit, with local lender BOC Hong Kong (2388.HK) down 5 percent while Bank of East Asia (0023.HK), where both the CEO and the CFO have resigned, dropped 5.3 percent to HK$13.32. [ID:nHKG171173]

"You just have to look at how Wells Fargo, Bank of America and Barclays performed on Thursday to understand why banking stocks are down today. Fear has gripped the sector," said Alex Wong, director with Ample Finance.

Canada's top insurer, Manulife Financial Corp (0945.HK) (MFC.TO), took another tumble, sliding 10.1 percent to HK$62.30 after its Toronto-listed shares plunged on Thursday.