Hong Kong stocks edged up on Thursday, with the benchmark Hang Seng index closing up 70.67 points, or 0.4 percent, to end at 17,935.1 points, after trading between a day high of 17,997.07 and a day low of 17,657.69 points.
Turnover totaled 53.75 billion HK dollars (about 6.9 billion U. S. dollars) compared with Wednesday's 53.03 billion HK dollars.
The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index rose by 90.14 points, or 0.95 percent, to close at 9,566.29.
Three out of four sub-indices gained ground, with the Finance rising the most by 0.78 percent, followed by the Utilities 0.71 percent, and the Properties 0.43 percent. The Commerce & Industry fell 0.07 percent.
Banking giant HSBC, which accounts for the largest weighting of the Hang Seng Index, remained at 57.05 HK dollars without change, and its local unit Hang Seng Bank added 1.847 percent to 93.75 HK dollars. Bank of East Asia, another Hong Kong's major bank, rose 2.405 percent to 25.55 HK dollars. Local bourse operator Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing advanced 0.084 percent to 119.1 HK dollars.
Mainland-based financial stocks also gained. China Construction Bank, the country's second largest bank which accounts for the third largest weighting of the Hang Seng Index, added 0.192 percent to 5.21 HK dollars. ICBC, the world's largest bank by market value, rose 0.955 percent at 4.23 HK dollars. Bank of China went up 0.42 percent at 2.39 HK dollars. Bank of Communications, China's fifth biggest lender measured by assets, rose 0.825 percent to 4.89 HK dollars.
China's second largest insurer Ping An added 3.307 percent at 53.1 HK dollars, and China Life, one of the world's largest life insurers by market value, moved up 1.846 percent at 19.86 HK dollars.
As for Hong Kong developers, Hang Lung Properties lost 1.293 percent to 22.9 HK dollars. Henderson Land, another major developer in Hong Kong, fell 1.731 percent to 36.9 HK dollars, and Cheung Kong Holding, a powerful HK-based developer controlled by billionaire Li Ka-shing, went up 0.531 percent to 85.15 HK dollars.
China's top refiner Sinopec rose 0.996 percent to 8.11 HK dollars. PetroChina, the country's largest oil and gas producer, lost 0.522 percent to 9.53 HK dollars. CNOOC, the HK-listed unit of China's National Offshore Oil Corp., went down 1.151 percent to 13.74 HK dollars.
HK-based Esprit, a clothing retailer which heavily relies on wholesale operations in Europe, was the best-performing blue chip in the day, with its shares rising 6.397 percent to 9.48 HK dollars.
Hengan Int'l was the worst-performing blue chip in the day, with its shares falling 2.69 percent to 70.55 HK dollars. (1 U.S. dollar equals 7.795 HK dollars)
