HK stocks close lower on Chinese mainland markets' fall

HONG KONG, April 18 (Xinhua) -- Hong Kong stocks dipped 61.18 points, or 0.25 percent, to close at 24,197.78 on Friday, tracking the fall of the Chinese mainland markets.

Turnover increased to 79.89 billion HK dollars (10.26 billion U. S. dollars) from Thursday's 72.66 billion HK dollars (9.33 billion U.S. dollars). The benchmark Hang Seng Index was down 1.9 percent for the week, and off 13 percent from the start of this year.

Blue-chip heavyweight China Mobile rose sharply on expectations of strong first-quarter results, but those gains failed to lift the broad market on concerns of further weakness in mainland's stock markets.

Dealers said the local market was also pressured by profit-taking in large caps, including HSBC, following recent gains and sharp declines in airline counters as crude oil prices remain at record levels.

Analysts said they expect further near-term weakness in the benchmark index, tracking declines in mainland's bourses, though they said the losses will likely be limited, with 23,500 providing strong support.

Mainland's benchmark Shanghai Composite Index ended down 4 percent, or off 105.9 points, at 3,094.67. Concerns the Shanghai index will breach the psychologically important 3,000 level increased caution among Hong Kong investors Friday, said Peter Lai, a director at DBS Vickers.

Lai said he expects the Hang Seng Index to be capped around 25,500-25,800 in the near term on Chinese mainland market weakness. "I would suggest investors buy stocks if the index retreats back below 22,000," he said.

Heavyweight PetroChina fell 2.77 percent as poor sentiment towards the oil producer in Shanghai spilled over to its H-shares in Hong Kong.

But CNOOC, China's largest offshore oil producer, was up 1.2 percent and Sinopec Corp, the largest oil refiner in China, went up 0.14 percent.

On mainland telecom stocks side, China Unicom went down 1.91 percent, Netcom down 1.53 percent, and China Telecom down 1.18 percent;

Mainland's insurers listed in Hong Kong receded. China Life edged down 1.03 percent, while Ping An and PICC P&C dropped 2.44 percent and 1.94 percent.

The six mainland banks also witnessed weak performance. ICBC was down 0.17 percent, CCB down 3.9 percent, Bank of China down 1.34 percent, Bankcomm down 1.57 per cent, CM Bank down 1.39 percent and CITIC Bank flat.

Aviation stock Air China was down 5.8 percent, China South Air down 6.83 percent and China East Air down 6.75 percent.

Coal stock China Shenhua was down 2.43 percent on the intention of its shareholders to place shares, China Coal down 0.98 percent and Yanzhou Coal up 0.52 percent. (One U.S. dollar = 7.785 HK dollars)