Hong Kong stocks close 0.55% lower

Special Report:Global Financial Crisis

HONG KONG, April 16 (Xinhua) -- Hong Kong stocks closed 0.55 percent lower
on Thursday as PetroChina led drops in blue chips on profit-taking, while index
heavyweight China Mobile and Esprit helped limit the market's decline.

The blue-chip Hang Seng Index fell 86.63 points to 15,582.99, after trading
between 15,517.39 and the year-to-date high of 15, 977.13. Turnover rose to
74.63 billion HK dollars (about 9.64 billion U.S. dollars) from Wednesday's
66.26 billion HK dollars ( about 8.56 billion U.S. dollars).

The market recovered some ground after early intra-day lows following the
release of the first quarter GDP data of China, but resumed the downtrend in the
afternoon session.

China's GDP expanded by 6.1 percent in the first quarter, according to the
National Bureau of Statistics. The data was largely in line with market
expectations.

PetroChina fell 2.3 percent to 6.83 HK dollars and Sinopec shed 1.0 percent
to 5.93 HK dollars. Sinopec dropped 1.00 percent to 5.93 HK dollars.

However, China Mobile, which had lagged the market rally, rose 1.4 percent
to 74.15 HK dollars, while Esprit jumped 4.98 percent to 40.05 HK dollars,
recovering from recent weakness caused by management changes at the company.

PICC PC tumbled 9.7 percent to 4.73 HK dollars after reporting a 98
percent drop in 2008 net profit to 50 million yuan from 2.99 billion yuan for
the previous year.

China Cosco fell 3.92 percent to 7.11 HK dollars and Bank of China moved
down 2.05 percent to 2.86 HK dollars.

China Eastern Airlines fell 5.6 percent to 1.34 HK dollars, after its
worse-than-expected 2008 results. The airline swung to a net loss of 15.3
billion yuan last year from a net profit of 379 million yuan the previous
year.