(For Shanghai market reports, click [.SS])
(Updates to Thursday close)
HONG KONG, May 22 (Reuters) - Hong Kong stocks fell to a
one-month closing low on Thursday, weighed down by slides in
Sinopec (0386.HK) and PetroChina (0857.HK) after Beijing denied a
deregulation of oil product prices was imminent.
Shares in Sinopec fell 3.2 percent and PetroChina lost 1.6
percent a day after speculation about pending oil price rises
drove shares of fuel producers sharply higher. [ID:nPEK160459]
"Weak U.S. stocks and Beijing's denial on an imminent
deregulation of oil product prices hurt market sentiment," said
Kenny Tang, associate director at Tung Tai Securities.
Property firms were also hit amid fears that the U.S.
rate-cutting cycle has ended, but a rebound in Japanese stocks
helped the city's main index to recover above 25,000 points.
Mid-tier property firm Sino Land (0083.HK) and Hang Lung
(0101.HK) fell more than 3 percent each after the Federal Reserve
signalled that mounting concerns over inflation would make
further interest rate cuts unlikely. [ID:nN21438129]
"Obviously, there is limited hope for further interest rate
cuts in the United States and the U.S. economy remains weak,"
said Alfred Chan, chief dealer at Cheer Pearl Investment Ltd.
Aviation and shipping firms also fell after oil prices hit a
new high above $135 on supply woes. [O/R]
The benchmark Hang Seng Index .HSI fell 1.64 percent to
close at 25,043.12, well above the day's low of 24,700.49. The
index has dropped nearly 10 percent so far this year.
Mainboard turnover improved slightly to HK$81.1 billion
($10.40 billion) from HK$79.2 billion on Wednesday.
HEAVYWEIGHTS
Most heavily traded China Mobile (0941.HK), the world's
biggest mobile carrier, fell 1.6 percent and HSBC (0005.HK),
Europe's biggest bank, dropped 1.3 percent.
Li & Fung, which sources goods for Wal-Mart (WMT.N), lost 3.3
percent on concerns about the health of the U.S. economy.
Losses in Chinese shipping firms helped to drag the China
Enterprises Index of Hong Kong-listed mainland companies .HSCE,
or H shares, down 2.2 percent to 13,820.84.
China COSCO (1919.HK), the country's largest shipping
conglomerate, dropped 7.6 percent after Credit Suisse cut the
stock to neutral from outperform.
A slight retreat in the Baltic Exchange's dry freight index
.BADI overnight saw China Shipping Development (1138.HK) fall
4.9 percent and CSCL (2866.HK) slide 4 percent.
Fushan International Energy (0639.HK) was one bright spot of
the day, jumping more than 11 percent. The company said it would
pay HK$10.53 billion for coking coal mining assets in China.
[ID:nHKG302014]
Mainland airlines were also hard hit by high oil prices with
Air China (0753.HK) losing 3.8 percent, China Eastern (1055.HK)
falling 6 percent and China Eastern (0670.HK) down 5.6 percent.
(Reporting by Alison Leung; Editing by Anne Marie Roantree)
