Hong Kong stocks close 0.64% higher

Hong Kong stocks gained 133.48 points, or 0.64 percent, to close at 20,973.39 on Tuesday.

The benchmark Hang Seng Index traded between 20,824.05 and 21, 008.78 before finishing the trading near the day high, on a turnover of 53.93 billion HK dollars (about 6.94 billion U.S. dollars).

Among the four sub-indexes of the Hang Seng Index, Commerce & Industries and Finance were the biggest advancers, gaining 1 percent and 0.67 percent respectively.

The China Enterprises Index, which tracks the so-called H-shares of mainland-based companies, was also higher, up 56.09 points, or 0.47 percent to close at 11,875.03.

Heavyweight HSBC climbed 1.68 percent to 78.85 HK dollars and China Mobile, the nation's biggest telecom service provider by subscriber, went up 1.22 percent to 78.8 HK dollars.

Internet portal Tencent surged 3.4 percent to 143 HK dollars, making it the best performer of the day among the 43 constituent stocks.

Local property stocks were soft, as some investors choose to cash out their gains from the Monday surge prompted by high expectations for a scheduled land auction by the Hong Kong government.

Cheung Kong, the business conglomerate led by HK's richest man Li Ka-shing, retreated 0.37 percent to 93.75 HK dollars. SHK Properties, the leading residential housing developer in Hong Kong, dropped 0.26 percent to 114.5 HK dollars.

Chinese financial stocks were mostly higher, with CCB up 0.61 percent to 6.58 HK dollars, ABC up 0.29 percent to 3.51 HK dollars and BOC up 0.48 percent to 4015 HK dollars.

Oil stocks were robust, with PetrolChina gaining 1.13 percent to 8.93 HK dollars, CNOOC up 1.08 percent to 13.12 HK dollars and Sinopec 0.81 percent higher at 6.22 HK dollars. (7.77 HK dollars equal 1 U.S. dollar)

Source: Xinhua