Hong Kong: Shares close down as China markets retreat

[HONG KONG] Hong Kong shares fell on Wednesday, following mainland China shares lower after a bout of late afternoon profit taking.

The Hang Seng index ended down 0.8 percent at 22,956.57 points, while the China Enterprises Index lost 1.5 percent to 10,558.47.

Banks and insurers led declines on concerns that China's slowing economy was pressuring profit margins and sparking an increase in bad loans.

Total trading volume of companies included in the HSI index was 1.4 billion shares.

REUTERS