HK Hot stocks-Sinopec, Chinese financials tumble
HONG KONG, June 10 (Reuters) - At 0323 GMT the Hang Seng Index .HSI was down 822.83 points or 3.37 percent at 23,579.35.
The China Enterprises Index .HSCE fell 640.71 points or 4.7 percent to 12,872.50.
Here are some of the stocks on the move.
* Sinopec Corp (0386.HK) tumbled 6.6 percent to HK$7.84, after rising 2.9 percent on Friday, as local media reported that Beijing had signalled it was unlikely to remove price controls on refined oil products.
Its subsidiary, Sinopec Shanghai Petrochemical (0338.HK), plunged 8.1 percent as investors took profits from a recent rally in the stock.
* Offshore oil producer CNOOC (0883.HK) bucked the trend to rise among a sea of red tickers, after oil prices shot up $12 a barrel in the previous three sessions. The stock was up 0.6 percent after Merrill Lynch upgraded CNOOC to buy from neutral with a target price of HK$16. CNOOC climbed 0.8 percent.
Air carriers also dipped on the oil price surge, with Cathay Pacific (0293.HK) giving up 5 percent.
* Global lender HSBC (0005.HK) was one of the most actively traded stocks in late morning trade, falling 2 percent after Lehman Brothers LEH.N said it expected to post a $2.8 billion second-quarter loss.
* The other index heavyweight, China Mobile (0941.HK), tumbled 3.1 percent in line with the broad market. China Netcom 0906.HK, which suffered heavy losses following restructuring announcements last week, fell a further 5.4 percent.
* Chinese financials took a beating after China raised the reserve ratio at banks for the fifth time this year. Industrial & Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) (1398.HK) dropped 3.7 percent and China Construction Bank (CCB) (0939.HK) slid 4.4 percent.
Asia's biggest life insurer, China Life (2628.HK), plunged 4.9 percent following a 5.1 percent fall in the Shanghai Composite Index, diminishing the value of its investments in the mainland equity market. Smaller rival Ping An Insurance (2318.HK) gave up 4.3 percent.
* Property stocks joined the sell-off on talk that the U.S. was likely to increase interest rates to combat rising inflation. Local real estate companies have benefited from a series of rate cuts in the United States since September 2007 as local lending rates were also lowered owing to the peg between the two currencies.
Cheung Kong Holdings (0001.HK), billionaire Li Ka-shing's property flagship, fell 3.5 percent, Hang Lung Properties (0101.HK) dropped 6 percent and Sun Hung Kai Properties (0016.HK) skidded 3.7 percent on Tuesday. (Reporting by Parvathy Ullatil; Editing by Anne Marie Roantree)
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