HK shares end down 4.3 pct; Ping An tumbles, BYD up

* BYD soars 42 percent on Buffett's investment

* Ping An falls 10.5 pct after Fortis nationalisation

* Local properties drop on mortgage rate hike, HSBC job cuts

* Coal stocks tumble on Goldman Sachs downgrades

(Updates to close)

By Parvathy Ullatil

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hong Kong shares fell 4.3 percent on Monday, sliding to near two-year lows as investors offloaded property stocks on a mortgage rate hike and job cuts at HSBC (0005.HK), while Ping An (2318.HK) tumbled on its exposure to newly-nationalised Fortis.

Dodging the decline, rechargeable battery and electric vehicle maker BYD (1211.HK) vaulted 42 percent after announcing the sale of a 10 percent stake to a unit of U.S. billionaire investor Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (BRKa.N). [nHKG299235]

Ping An Insurance dropped 10.5 percent on worries over a larger-than-expected losses due to its 5 percent stake in Fortis (FOR.BR), which the Belgian, Dutch and Luxembourg governments agreed to bail out over the weekend. Ping An stock has fallen almost 20 percent in the last two sessions, sinking to its lowest close since May 2007.

Goldman Sachs estimated the cumulative loss of Ping An's investment on Fortis at 17.5 billion yuan ($2.6 billion) as of Sept. 26.

The benchmark Hang Seng Index .HSI ended down 801.41 points at 17,880.68, taking year-to-date losses to almost 36 percent.

"U.S. stock futures indicate that all the indexes will open lower despite confidence that the $700 billion rescue package may be approved," said Philip Chan, head of research with CAF Securities.

U.S. stocks futures were down nearly 2 percent ahead of a congressional vote on the mega bailout package that aims to flush out toxic debt from the financial system. [nLT436737]

"It looks like the markets have already factored in the rescue package and now awaiting more asset sell-downs and bigger provisions."

Mainboard turnover was unchanged from Friday at HK$55 billion ($7.1 billion).

Shares in Hong Kong's largest property developer Sun Hung Kai Properties (0016.HK) dropped more than 5.1 percent to a 25-month low after HSBC hiked its mortgage rate for new borrowers by half a percentage point and cut 1,100 jobs amid the global financial crisis. Other banks are expected to follow suit with mortgage rate hikes and make borrowing more expensive as interbank rates rise.