Hong Kong stocks close 0.78% higher

Hong Kong stocks went up 174.16 points, or 0.78 percent, to close on Friday at 22,568.24 points. The benchmark Hang Seng Index traded between 22,633.29 and 22, 442.39. Turnover totaled 58.03 billion HK dollars (about 7.48 billion U.S. dollars The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index ended down 0.42 percent to close at 9936.25. All four sub-indices ended higher with the Properties closed up 0.81 percent, the Finance ended up 0.25 percent. The Utilities closed up 1.11 percent and the Commerce and Industry ended up 1.33 percent. The Banking giant HSBC, which accounts for the largest weighting of the Hang Seng Index, ended up 1.08 percent to 84.35 HK dollars. Bank of East Asia, one of the largest local banks in Hong Kong, fell 0.93 percent to 31.90 HK dollars. China Mobile, China's dominant mobile carrier, ended up 1.37 percent to 73.95 HK dollars, while another Chinese telecom giant China Unicom rose 1.20 percent to 10.12 HK dollars. Local bourse operator HKEX moved up 0.16 percent to 122.00 HK dollars. For the local property stocks, Sun Hung Kai, HK's largest property developer by market value, ended up 1.17 percent to 99.30 HK dollars; Cheung Kong properties, owned by billionaire Li Ka- shing, rose 1.98 percent to 118.40 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 down 0.19 percent to 5.31 HK dollars. ICBC, the world's largest bank by market value, ended down 0.64 percent to 4.68 HK dollars. Bank of China ended down 0.61 percent to 3.25 HK dollars. As for energy stocks, China's top refiner Sinopec ended down 1. 23 percent to 6.54 HK dollars. PetroChina, the country's largest oil and gas producer, fell 0.37 percent to 8.12 HK dollars. (1 U.S. dollar equals 7.76 HK dollar)