China telcos, banks wipe 3.2 pct off HK shares
HONG KONG, Jan 7 (Reuters) - Hong Kong shares dropped 3.2 percent on Wednesday as China Construction Bank (CCB) (0939.HK) slid after an equity sell-down by Bank of America while telecom stocks retreated after Beijing handed out long-awaited 3G licences.
CCB, China's No. 3 lender, fell 8.5 percent while top lender ICBC (1398.HK) dropped 7.3 percent on worries over equity sell-downs by strategic investors.
The Hang Seng Index .HSI unofficially closed 490.05 points lower at 15,019.46 after opening 1.6 percent higher. The index dropped below 15,000 briefly in late trade Wednesday.
Turnover rebounded to HK$88.2 billion, its strongest since September 2008.
China Mobile (0941.HK) gave up 5.5 percent after a strong two-day rally on hopes for an imminent issue of the 3G licences.
China Unicom (0762.HK), which soared nearly 17 percent on the 3G talk, pulled back 10.8 percent.
The China Enterprises Index of top locally listed mainland Chinese firms .HSCE gave up 4.3 percent at 8,270.07.
(Reporting by Parvathy Ullatil; Editing by Jonathan Hopfner)
