Hong Kong blue chips flat

Hong Kong blue chips held steady on Tuesday despite a choppy session as a rebound by China Mobile tempered losses in HSBC following weak quarterly earnings by the global lender's US unit.
H shares, or Hong Kong-traded shares in mainland companies, closed at a record for a fourth-straight session as large-cap mainland lenders extended recent sharp gains, holding off pressure from soft resource stocks.
The benchmark Hang Seng index rose 9.88 points to 18,878.42. The China Enterprises index of H shares set a fresh intraday peak at 8,164.81 before falling to finish at 8,093.90.
Turnover was the third-highest ever at HK$58.0 billion (US $7.4 billion), compared with Monday's HK$57.7 billion. As the mania extended for mainland lenders, some said they were due for a correction. "H shares have been rising too fast," said Andes Cheng, associate director at South China Brokerage. "The financial sector is overvalued."
Mainland lenders have served as proxies for China's double-digit economic growth, but lately, investors have been betting that more large-cap lenders would be added to market indices in the near future. This follows the inclusion of the Industrial & Commercial Bank of China in the MSCI China index on Monday.
Top mainland lender ICBC shot up nearly 3 percent to HK$3.88 and China Construction Bank raced ahead 2.7 percent to HK$3.89, earlier setting a fresh peak. Bank of China jumped 1.4 percent to HK$3.56.
HSBC, Europes's biggest bank, slid 1.5 percent to HK$148.20, earlier tapping two-week lows, after HSBC USA Inc said its net income in the July-September quarter dipped to $244 million from $252 million a year ago.
HSBC's consumer finance arm saw net income in the third quarter almost double from a year ago, but its bad debts rose on US mortgages, the bank said in a regulatory filing.
"Though this may not impact HSBC's bottom line too much, it could put a question mark on growth potential, especially if the US property market slows down," said Marco Mak, research director at Tai Fook Securities. Cellular operator China Mobile, which had fallen nearly 5 percent since last week's sharp correction, bounced up 1.6 percent to HK$66.65.
Jiangxi Copper extended its decline amid concerns of a short-term supply glut at a time of weak Chinese demand. China's largest copper producer tanked 2.3 percent to HK$7.94. Also, Jiangxi Copper and BioteQ Environmental Technologies Inc will set up a joint venture to build a 28.2 million yuan ($3.59 million) water treatment plant, according to a press release. Gold miner Zijin Mining dropped 1.5 percent to HK$4.76.