Hong Kong stocks staged a reversal to close slightly weaker Tuesday, with the benchmark Hang Seng index ending down 66 points, or 0.20 percent, at 27,112.

The index jumped 287 points, or 1.04 percent, to open at 27,466 in the morning session and reached the day's peak of 27,637 before it spiraled down. Turnover was mostly flat at 114.9 billion HK dollars (14.7 billion U.S. dollars).

Property stocks continued its rally in the morning session, amid expectations that U.S. rate cuts could boost demand for real estate shares. But in the afternoon, dealers began to sell the stocks to lock in profits.

Property counters closed mixed. Henderson Land rose 1.7 percent to 77.6 HK dollars, Cheung Kong and Hang Lung Prop fell 3 percent to 142.6 HK dollars and 33.2 HK dollars, respectively.

Chinese mainland banks outperformed after China Merchant Bank's positive earnings guidance. The bank's share price jumping 3 percent to 31 HK dollars, off a high of 32.7 HK dollars. CCB jumped 4.3 percent at 6.26 HK dollars, ICBC rose 2.1 percent at 5.38 HK dollars, and BoCom was up 3.2 percent at 10.36 HK dollars.

Analysts here said that the market outlook remains uncertain given no specific positive leads, so investors are targeting for short-term gains rather than holding stocks for longer term.

(Xinhua News Agency January 9, 2008)