MW: Hong Kong shares retreat in choppy early trade
By V. Phani Kumar
HONG KONG (MarketWatch) -- Hong Kong shares retreated in choppy trading early Thursday as Chinese banks and property developers broadly eased after Moody's warned of a possible ratings downgrade of the U.S. The Hang Seng Index HK:HSI -0.49% slipped 0.3% to 21,870.28 after briefly pushing into positive territory, and the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index gave up 0.2% to 12,264.65. Banks and property developers reversed gains from the previous session, with Bank of China Ltd. BACHY +1.51% HK:3988 -1.95% dropping 1.4%, and China Construction Bank Corp. CICHY +2.37% HK:939 -1.48% shedding 0.9%, while China Overseas Land & Investment Ltd. HK:688 -1.40% CAOVY +3.85% declined 0.7%. Among other notable decliners, shares of fashion company Esprit Holdings Ltd. HK:330 -3.30% ESPGY -0.51% dropped 4.2%. China's Shanghai Composite Index CN:000001 +0.54% gained 0.4% to 2,807.43.
