HONG KONG -- Hong Kong shares slid lower early Friday as profit-taking pressure mounted after the market rose in the previous eight straight sessions. Banks paced the fall after an overnight drop on Wall Street, but shares of Aluminum Corp. of China Ltd. , or Chalco, jumped 4.3% as trading resumed after it announced plans to buy a large stake in a Rio Tinto-controlled iron ore project in Guinea for $1.35 billion. Among lenders, China Construction Bank Corp. dropped 0.5%, and Bank of Communications Co. shed 0.7%. China's Shanghai Composite dropped 0.4% to 2,639.49, though Chalco's A-shares soared 7.2% in strong volume.
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