HONG KONG, Feb. 18 (Xinhua) -- Hong Kong stocks receded 111.86 points, or 0.54 percent to close at 20,422.15 on Thursday, mainly dragged down by commodity producers following the drop in metal prices.
After an almost flat opening, the benchmark Hang Seng Index fluctuated between 20,569.61 and 20,381.30 before landing slightly lower than the previous closing.
Turnover remained low, totaling 34 billion HK dollars (about 4. 38 billion U.S. dollars).
Among the heavyweights, China Mobile, China's biggest telecom service provider, shed 0.13 percent to 76.65 while the sole market operator HKEx dived 1.15 percent to 129.4 HK dollars. Banking giant HSBC topped the turnover chart, with its share price up 0.3 percent at 82.55 HK dollars.
The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index, which tracks the H shares of Hong Kong-listed Chinese companies, slipped 0.9 percent to 11,601.67.
The nation's three major players in the oil sector retreated: PetrolChina slumped 0.80 percent to 8.71 HK dollars, Sinopec dropped 1.17 percent to 5.93 HK dollars and CNOOC down 0.81 percent to 12.24 HK dollars.
Meanwhile, China's No. 1 producer of the Aluminum Chalco declined 2.8 percent to 7.44 HK dollars. Jiangxi Copper, which has the lion's share of the nation's copper market, slid 1 percent to 16.06 HK dollars.
Shares of Hong Kong's property developers moved down as selling pressure amounts ahead of a land auction scheduled next Monday.
The Hang Seng Property Index's dropped 0.9 percent, the biggest among the four industry groups tracked by the Hang Seng Index.
Cheung Kong went down 1.31 percent to 94.45 HK dollars, Henderson Land lost 1.4 percent to end at 50.75 HK dollars and SHK Properties managed to stay unchanged at 102.9 HK dollars.
