Hong Kong shares close higher after the Chinese New Year holiday

Hong Kong shares went up on Wednesday with the benchmark Hang Seng Index rose 83.51 points, or 0.41 percent, to 20,651.42 after trading between 20,540.32 and 20, 677.29 during the session.

Turnover totaled 40.5 billion Hong Kong dollars(about 5.19 billion U.S. dollars), up from 37.09 billion Hong Kong dollars( about 4.75 billion U.S. dollars) Friday. The market was closed Monday and Tuesday for Chinese New Year.

A sharp rise in heavyweight China Mobile, following record monthly subscriber data for January, more than offset declines in Chinese banks to push the Hong Kong market higher Wednesday, the first trading day after the Chinese New Year holiday.

Analysts said the benchmark index will move in a narrow 20,400- 20,800 range in the coming days largely because many institutional investors are still on holiday.

China Mobile, the second-biggest constituent of the Hang Seng Index by market capitalization, surged 3.1 percent to 77.10 Hong Kong dollars after the company, China's biggest mobile operator by subscribers, said it added a record 4.86 million users in January, taking its total number of subscribers to 360.1 million.

Chinese banks fell after the People's Bank of China said Friday it will raise the percentage of deposits that lenders must keep on reserve for the fifth time in eight months. The measure, aimed at reining in loan growth, took effect Sunday.

ICBC, China's largest bank by assets, fell 0.4 percent to 4.63 Hong Kong dollars, China Construction Bank dropped 1 percent to 4. 85 Hong Kong dollars and Bank of China slipped 0.3 percent to 3.91 Hong Kong dollars.

Source: Xinhua