HONG KONG: Hong Kong shares closed 0.86 percent lower on Friday in nervous trade ahead of a much-anticipated speech by US Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke later in the day.
The benchmark Hang Seng Index fell 169.60 points to 19,582.88 on turnover of HK$58.71 billion ($7.53 billion).
Dealers are awaiting Bernanke's speech to central bankers in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, on Friday for a hint at how the Fed can stimulate the economy, with some hoping for another round of quantitative easing, or QE3.
"All eyes are on Bernanke's speech with its possibility of hinting of a QE3 which may provide support to the equity markets later," Tanrich Investment Manager Jackson Wong said.
PetroChina was down 3.6 percent at HK$9.17 after China's largest oil producer by capacity reported Thursday a weaker-than-expected 1.0 percent rise in first-half net profit.
Shipping company China Cosco fell 1.0 percent to HK$4.14 after it said it swung to a first-half net loss.
Bank ICBC rose 1.4 percent to HK$4.92 and China Construction Bank ended flat at HK$5.29.
Shanghai closed down 0.12 percent. The composite index, which covers both A and B shares, ended down 3.07 points at 2,612.19 on turnover of 81.5 billion yuan ($12.7 billion).
However, the key index is up around three percent for the week after surging 2.92 percent on Thursday.
"It's still too early to expect a real rebound in the stock market as it's still uncertain whether the authorities have inflation under control," Huang Bin, an analyst with Gold State Securities, told Dow Jones Newswires.
China is due to release August consumer price data on September 9. The market is watching whether the figure will show a substantial decline from 6.5 percent in July.
Hua Xia Bank ended down 0.7 percent at 11.24 yuan after rising 7.2 percent Thursday, while China Merchants Bank slipped 0.4 percent to 12.12 yuan following a 4.6 percent gain the previous session.
Resource companies were also hit by profit-taking.
China Shenhua Energy fell 0.5 percent to 26.84 yuan after rising 5.3 percent Thursday, while Yanzhou Coal Mining was 0.9 percent lower at 30.85 yuan following a 3.9 percent gain a day earlier.
Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011
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