Hong Kong Stocks Fall As Brokers, Real Estate Weak

Hong Kong stocks traded lower Thursday morning, although mainland Chinese shares extended gains in choppy trading after a seven-day bull run. The Hang Seng Index turned lower after a positive open and dropped 0.9%, with the mainland-China-tracking Hang Seng China Enterprises Index down 0.8%, even as the Shanghai Composite Index edged up 0.3% in seesaw trade. Most Chinese securities firms suffered losses after several brokers tightened up their margin-financing requirements in recent days, including increasing the amount of cash clients must put down for their deposits. China Everbright Ltd. slid 2.9%, Southwest Securities International Ltd. lost 1.9%, and Guotai Junan International Holdings Ltd. fell 1.3%. Chinese real-estate developer Sunac China Holdings Ltd. sagged 3.6% after it dropped its proposed acquisition of struggling Chinese property company Kaisa Group Holdings Ltd. , as conditions for the takeover reportedly weren't met. Other property stocks were also weaker, with China Overseas Land & Investment Ltd. down 1.5%, China Resources Land Ltd. off 1.4%, and Sino-Ocean Land Holdings Ltd. lower by 1.2%. Several top-weighted index component shares also declined, as China Mobile Ltd. pulled back 1.3%, Tencent Holdings Ltd. gave up 0.7%, and HSBC Holdings PLC traded 0.4% lower.