Hong Kong blue chips decline

Hong Kong blue chips fell 0.5 percent on Wednesday, tracking weak equity markets world-wide, as worries about the US subprime mortgage market weighed on global lender HSBC Holdings and lower crude prices prompted profit-taking in oil stocks.
Mainland property developer Nan Hai Corp Ltd surged as much as 30 percent after saying Goldman Sachs International London acquired a stake in the company. Organic farming firm Chaoda Modern plunged as much as 20 percent following the resignation of its auditors. The market trimmed losses in the afternoon as mainland stock markets accelerated gains.
"It's a bit choppy, because of the weakness in overseas markets and the overbought conditions in the local market," said Ben Kwong, chief operating officer at KGI Asia Ltd But Kwong said the downside was relatively limited because of month-end window dressing and speculation that the market should stay buoyant before the July 1 hoopla marking the 10th anniversary of the British handover of Hong Kong to mainland China.
The benchmark Hang Seng Index closed down 98.01 points at 21,705.56 on mainboard turnover of HK$78.8 billion (US $10.1 billion) compared with Tuesday's HK$74.2 billion. "The Hang Seng will pull back to 21,500 this week, which is a good support level," said Castor Pang, strategist at SHK Financial.
The China Enterprises index of H shares, or Hong Kong-listed shares in mainland companies, finished flat just below the day's high at 11,914.53 after falling as much as 2.2 percent. Among resource shares, the big loser was China Mining, which plunged 12.1 percent to HK$1.97, erasing its sharp gains a day earlier.
CNOOC Ltd slid 1.6 percent to HK$8.46. HSBC Holdings Plc, the day's most active stock, dropped 0.8 percent to HK$143 amid further worries about the US subprime mortgage market in which the global bank has exposure.
China Mobile Ltd, which overtook HSBC as the largest firm on the Hang Seng on Tuesday with a market value of US $217 billion, sank 1.6 percent to HK$83.45. HSBC ended Wednesday back in the top stop.
Nan Hai Corp Ltd surged 15.8 percent to HK$0.33 in heavy trade. The company said Goldman Sachs acquired 3.3 billion shares at an average price of HK$0.29 per share on June 25. Profit-taking hit mainland life insurer Ping An Insurance again, sending its shares down 2.2 percent to HK$53.60.
But peer China Life rebounded in the afternoon, gaining 1.1 percent to HK$28.60. China's top non-life insurer PICC Property and Casualty Ltd jumped nearly 3 percent to HK$6.40, erasing earlier losses. China Construction Bank also reversed morning's weakness to end the day up 2.1 percent at HK$5.31.