HK shares at one-month low; China stocks claw back

* Bank stocks in Shanghai surge on reserve ratio cut talk

* Commodity stocks down as energy and metal prices drop

* Gome vaults in HK after announcing Bain Capital investment (Updates to close)

By Parvathy Ullatil & Claire Zhang

HONG KONG/SHANGHAI, June 23 (Reuters) - Hong Kong shares retreated 2.9 percent to a one-month low on Tuesday spurred by lower energy and metals prices as doubts swirled about the pace of still nascent global economic recovery.

But China stocks finished flat, after staging a comeback late in the session, with bank stocks surging on market talk that the central bank would cut the reserve ratio.

Bank of China (601988.SS)(3988.HK) shot up 6 percent to 4.77 yuan in Shanghai, but fell 4.2 percent in Hong Kong where Chinese bank counters were among the biggest drags on the main index.

"A rumour is just a rumour, sometimes. There seems to be no need for a reserve rate cut at this point but sentiment in China is such that even a slight whiff of positive news can ignite the market. Hong Kong is always more cautious," said UOB Kay Hian director Steven Leung.

The premium gap between yuan-denominated A shares and their Hong Kong-listed H-share counterparts shot up to a 2-½ month high on Tuesday.

GOME STANDS OUT IN HONG KONG

The benchmark Hang Seng Index .HSI finished down 521.18 points at 17,538.37 with all but three stocks languishing in the red.

"The three-month rally we've had was quite a long one and now we are headed for a 1-½ month correction. The trend is likely to be W-shaped as funds move in and out of risky assets," said KGI Asia chief operating officer Ben Kwong.

The main index has piled on 29 percent so far in the second quarter of 2009.

Scandal-tainted Chinese electronics retailer GOME (0493.HK) was up 68.8 percent at HK$1.89 as it emerged out of a seven-month trading suspension after announcing a major capital raising move and signed on U.S. private equity firm Bain Capital as a new investor. [ID:nHKG70961]

GOME shares soared to a nine-month high of HK$2.32 earlier in the day. Merrill Lynch upgraded GOME to "buy" from "underperform", saying the "worst is over and short-term risk is under control".

Turnover rose to HK$66.2 billion from midday Monday's HK$62.7 billion.