Hong Kong stocks posted their biggest monthly gain in nearly six years in April on hopes of fresh money inflows from mainland China, despite weakness in banking shares which weighed on major indexes on Thursday. Shares of major Chinese lenders listed in Hong Kong sagged after they reported lower first-quarter profits, a squeeze in lending margins and a jump in bad loans as China's economy cools.
The Hang Seng index fell 0.9 percent to 28,133.00 points, but still jumped 13 percent for the month, the most since May 2009. The China Enterprises Index fell 1.2 percent to 14,431.11 points, but rose 17 percent on the month, its best performance since October 2011.
Among the most actively traded stocks on Hong Kong's main board were Ping Shan Tea, up 11.2 percent to HK$0.10 China Culture Group, down 14.1 percent to HK$0.23 and Landing International, up 87.1 percent to HK$0.19. Total trading volume of companies included in the HSI index was 2.6 billion shares.