Hong Kong stocks close 1.03% lower

Hong Kong stocks closed down 260. 97 points, or 1.03 percent to 24,975.31 points on Tuesday.

The benchmark Hang Seng Index traded between 24,819.26 and 25, 439.34. Turnover totaled 172.48 billion HK dollars (about 22.3 billion U.S. dollars).

The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index moved down 404.13 points, or 3.30 percent, to close at 11,827.30 points.

Three of the four sub-indices lost ground. The Finance sub- index fell the most at 1.17 percent, followed by the Properties at 1.15 percent, the Commerce & Industry at 0.97 percent, while the Utilities edged up 0.14 percent.

Banking giant HSBC, which accounts for the largest weighting of the Hang Seng Index, rose 0.81 percent to 68.4 HK dollars.

Bank of East Asia, one of the largest local banks in Hong Kong, fell 0.6 percent to close at 33 HK dollars.

Local bourse operator HKEX plunged 5.53 percent to 222 HK dollars.

China Mobile, China's dominant mobile carrier, lost 0.67 percent to 95.7 HK dollars. China Unicom, another Chinese telecom giant, dropped 2.83 percent to 10.98 HK dollars.

Local property stocks closed down. Sun Hung Kai, one of Hong Kong's largest property developer by market value, lowered 0.89 percent to 122.2 HK dollars. Henderson Land decreased 0.67 percent to 51.25 HK dollars. CKH Holdings rose 1.01 percent to 110 HK dollars.

Mainland-based financial stocks tumbled. Bank of China lost 2. 91 percent to close at 4.66 HK dollars. China Construction Bank fell 0.73 percent to 6.8 HK dollars. Bank of Communication went down 1.82 percent to 7.54 HK dollars. ICBC shed 2.61 percent to 5. 95 HK dollars.

As for energy stocks, China's top refiner Sinopec lowered 1.84 percent to 6.38 HK dollars. PetroChina, the country's largest oil and gas producer, decreased 1.29 percent to 8.4 HK dollars. CNOOC moved down 2.04 percent to 10.52 HK dollars.