Hong Kong stocks higher, China down

23 Nov, 2013

Hong Kong shares rose 0.49 percent on Friday after the Dow Jones on Wall Street ended above the 16,000 barrier for the first time. The benchmark Hang Seng Index added 115.99 points to 23,696.28 on turnover of HK$64.81 billion ($8.36 billion).
The gains came after the Dow rose 0.69 percent to close at 16,009.99 - the index has now surged more than 20 percent since the start of the year. Banking stocks were among the biggest beneficiaries after China said it would undertake various financial reforms.
Industrial and Commercial Bank of China rose 0.54 percent to HK$5.55, Bank of East Asia gained 0.74 percent to HK$34.20 while Bank of Communications was up 0.53 percent at HK$5.73.
Chinese shares closed down 0.43 percent. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index fell 9.39 points to 2,196.38 on turnover of 102.5 billion yuan ($16.8 billion). However, the index still gained 2.83 percent for the week after the government unveiled a blueprint for reforming the economy.
Among the biggest losers were media firms and companies linked to the new free-trade zone in Shanghai. BesTV New Media fell 5.13 percent to 39.03 yuan and Shanghai Xinhua Media fell 3.33 percent to 9.86 yuan. Energy giant Sinopec ended up 0.60 percent at 5.05 yuan despite reports that an explosion at one of its pipelines killed more than 20 people in the coastal city of Qingdao.

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