HK: Shares end lower, dragged down by weak mainland China stocks

[HONG KONG] Hong Kong shares surrendered early gains and closed lower on Tuesday, as losses in mainland China markets outweighed initial optimism fueled by overnight bullishness in US stocks.

China's main indexes fell more than 2 per cent as a flood of new initial public offerings (IPOs) fanned concerns over tighter liquidity, with financial heavyweights leading the decline.

Shares of mainland banks listed in Hong Kong also fell, dragging the benchmark HSI lower despite initial support stemming from a strong performance on Wall Street.

The Hang Seng index fell 0.7 per cent to 24,702.78 points, while the China Enterprises Index lost 2.2 per cent to 11,945.25 points.

Among the most actively traded stocks on Hong Kong's main board were Ch Yunnan Rts, up 215.0 per cent to HK$0.06; Bank Of China, down 2.2 per cent to HK$4.39; and CCB, down 2.0 per cent to HK$6.35.

Total trading volume of companies included in the HSI index was 1.5 billion shares.

REUTERS