On the futures settlement day, Hang Seng Index saw rising sell pressure after hitting the day-high at 24,228 and eventually closed down 107 pts or 0.45% to 24,004. Hang Seng China Enterprises Index slipped 37 pts or 0.3% to 11,013. Market turnover declined to $72.888 billion.

HSBC HOLDINGS (00005.HK)  -0.400 (-0.513%)    Short selling $225.20M; Ratio 26.714%   and CHINA MOBILE (00941.HK)  -0.950 (-0.991%)    Short selling $233.95M; Ratio 17.796%   faded 0.5% and 1% to $77.55 and $94.95 respectively. TENCENT (00700.HK)  -0.600 (-0.477%)    Short selling $152.72M; Ratio 10.745%   crept down 0.5% to $125.1.

Mainland banking stocks traded mixed today. BANKCOMM (03328.HK)  +0.050 (+0.835%)    Short selling $15.62M; Ratio 2.853%   and CM BANK (03968.HK)  +0.120 (+0.785%)    Short selling $138.20M; Ratio 18.701%   both rose 0.8%, bucking the market weakness. CCB (00939.HK)  -0.040 (-0.685%)    Short selling $61.57M; Ratio 3.880%   lost 0.7%.

As for the insurance sector, CHINA LIFE (02628.HK)  +0.200 (+0.746%)    Short selling $417.54M; Ratio 11.924%   surged over 4% further after a bounced of more than 7% yesterday. CPIC (02601.HK)  +0.150 (+0.464%)    Short selling $151.14M; Ratio 17.810%   gained 0.5%.

Utilities shares were pressurized. HK & CHINA GAS (00003.HK)  -0.280 (-1.488%)    Short selling $46.06M; Ratio 46.107%   and POWER ASSETS (00006.HK)  -1.050 (-1.413%)    Short selling $5.73M; Ratio 4.683%   slid 1.5% and 1.4% respectively. KUNLUN ENERGY (00135.HK)  -0.220 (-2.477%)    Short selling $34.10M; Ratio 15.351%   became the weakest blue chip with a drop of 2.5%.

LUK FOOK HOLD (00590.HK)  +2.400 (+10.345%)    Short selling $3.55M; Ratio 2.746%   's interim net profit receded 17%, but was better than the market projections. With brokers' bullish reports, the stock surged over 10% to $25.6.