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 HSI, -2.23% turned lower after a positive open and dropped 0.9%, with the mainland-China-tracking Hang Seng China Enterprises Index HSCEI, -3.53% down 0.8%, even as the Shanghai Composite Index SHCOMP, -6.50% 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. 0165, -3.24% CEVIF, +13.51% slid 2.9%, Southwest Securities International Ltd. 0812, -3.87% 600369, -9.93% lost 1.9%, and Guotai Junan International Holdings Ltd. 1788, -4.48% fell 1.3%. Chinese real-estate developer Sunac China Holdings Ltd. 1918, -5.73% sagged 3.6% after it dropped its proposed acquisition of struggling Chinese property company Kaisa Group Holdings Ltd. 1638, -1.89% 002425, +5.58% as conditions for the takeover reportedly weren't met. Other property stocks were also weaker, with China Overseas Land & Investment Ltd. 0688, -2.87% CAOVF, -1.45% down 1.5%, China Resources Land Ltd. 1109, -2.72% CRBJF, +29.03% off 1.4%, and Sino-Ocean Land Holdings Ltd. 3377, -3.75% SIOLF, +7.27% lower by 1.2%. Several top-weighted index component shares also declined, as China Mobile Ltd. 0941, -2.09% CHL, -2.06% pulled back 1.3%, Tencent Holdings Ltd. 0700, -1.71% TCEHY, -2.08% gave up 0.7%, and HSBC Holdings PLC 0005, -0.94% HSBC, -0.48% HSBA, -0.27% traded 0.4% lower.

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