Hong Kong stocks close 0.37% higher

Hong Kong stocks went up 84.41 points, or 0.37 percent, to close Thursday at 22,986.41 points. The benchmark Hang Seng Index traded between 23,085.14 and 22, 936.74. Turnover totaled 65.17 billion HK dollars (about 8.41 billion U.S. dollars). The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index ended down 14.27 points, or 0.14 percent, to close at 10187.52. Three sub-indices ended higher with the Finance ended up 0.5 percent, the Commerce and Industry closed up 0.32 percent and the Utilities closed up 0.3 percent. One sub-indices lost ground with the Properties ended down 0.06 percent. The Banking giant HSBC, which accounts for the largest weighting of the Hang Seng Index, ended up 0.47 percent with 86.05 HK dollars. Bank of East Asia, one of the largest local banks in Hong Kong, edged down 0.63 percent to 31.6 HK dollars. China Mobile, China's dominant mobile carrier, rose 0.58 percent to 77.6 HK dollars, while another Chinese telecom giant China Unicom dipped 2.39 percent to 10.6 HK dollars. Local bourse operator HKEX, moved down 0.08 percent to 127.7 HK dollars. For the local property stocks, Sun Hung Kai, HK's largest property developer by market value, ended up 0.78 percent at 97.35 HK dollars; Cheung Kong properties, owned by billionaire Li Ka- shing, ended down 0.08 percent to 120 HK dollars. As for mainland-based financial stocks, China Construction Bank, the country's second largest bank which accounts for the third largest weighting of the Hang Seng Index, ended up 0.18 percent with 5.55 HK dollars. ICBC, the world's largest bank by market value, ended flat with 4.95 HK dollars. Bank of China ended flat with 3.42 HK dollars. As for energy stocks, China's top refiner Sinopec edged up 0.34 percent to 5.95 HK dollars. PetroChina, the country's largest oil and gas producer, rose 0.5 percent to 8.05 HK dollars. (1 U.S. dollar equals 7.75 HK dollar)