HSI Falls 116 pts; Domestic Stocks Soften

The U.S. stocks retreated. Hang Seng Index opened down 215 pts or 1% this morning but it saw support at the level of 21,600. The index once rebounded but turned down again after the midday. It last stood at 21,755, down 116 pts or 0.5%. Hang Seng China Enterprises Index dropped 32 pts or 0.3% to 9,634. The turnover increased by $20 billion in the last ten minutes of trading hours today and the full-day amount was $74.855 billion.

Heavyweight HSBC HOLDINGS (00005.HK)  -0.300 (-0.485%)    Short selling $112.44M; Ratio 13.613%   and CHINA MOBILE (00941.HK)  -1.000 (-1.122%)    Short selling $108.63M; Ratio 7.532%   slid 0.5% and 1.1%. AIA (01299.HK)  -0.450 (-0.955%)    Short selling $180.33M; Ratio 18.483%   declined 1% to $46.55. It was reported that Temasek was willing to give STANCHART (02888.HK)  +1.900 (+3.072%)    Short selling $21.78M; Ratio 4.553%   more time for results improvement. The bank leaped 3% to $63.75 after soaring more than 8% on the previous day. TENCENT (00700.HK)  -0.300 (-0.198%)    Short selling $264.91M; Ratio 9.570%   gave up 0.2% to $151.3.

Chinese banks traded mixed. CCB (00939.HK)  -0.020 (-0.377%)    Short selling $163.39M; Ratio 11.186%   fell 0.4% while ICBC (01398.HK)  +0.010 (+0.214%)    Short selling $200.74M; Ratio 12.408%   added 0.2%. ABC (01288.HK)  +0.120 (+3.922%)    Short selling $241.00M; Ratio 14.541%   advanced 3.9%, being the best performing red chip. CHINA VANKE (02202.HK)  +0.450 (+2.004%)    Short selling $117.08M; Ratio 25.792%   's A/H-shares suspended their trading in the afternoon. The stock perked up 2% before trading suspension.

New York oil prices fell below US$35 a barrel. Three major oil stocks slumped 1.7%-2.1%. CHINA SHENHUA (01088.HK)  -0.280 (-2.393%)    Short selling $27.70M; Ratio 13.929%   's coal production in November decreased 6.7%. The stock plumped 2.4%. The decrease in blue chip domestic stocks widened. TINGYI (00322.HK)  -0.460 (-4.315%)    Short selling $24.52M; Ratio 22.580%   , HENGAN INT'L (01044.HK)  -2.550 (-3.391%)    Short selling $116.81M; Ratio 44.873%   and MENGNIU DAIRY (02319.HK)  -0.360 (-2.740%)    Short selling $31.26M; Ratio 29.956%   drifted lower 4.3%, 3.4% and 2.7% respectively. They were the best performing blue chips today.