Hong Kong: Shares rebound as casinos gain, but shed over 2% on week

[SHANGHAI] Hong Kong shares snapped a four-day losing streak on Friday as profit-taking pressure eased, but ended lower on the week despite the highly-touted launch of a landmark link between the Hong Kong and Shanghai exchanges.

The Hang Seng Index unofficially closed up 0.4 per cent at 23,437.12 points. The Hong Kong China Enterprises Index ended up 0.7 per cent at 10,447.18 points.

For the week, however, the indexes dropped 2.7 per cent and 2.9 per cent, respectively, with the Hang Seng posting its largest weekly percentage loss since early October.

Monday's launch of the "stock connect" had been expected to boost share values and volumes on both bourses, but many investors took advantage of the sharp run-up in prices ahead of the debut to take profits instead.

Mainland China investors' interest in Hong Kong stocks remained weak. They took up less than 2 per cent of the daily 10.5 billion yuan (US$1.72 billion) "southbound" quota.

Casinos were among the top gainers on Friday, along with oil companies as Brent crude futures edged higher and tried to break an eight-week slide.

REUTERS