Hong Kong shares end morning lower on properties, China stocks

Share prices finished the morning lower as property developers fell on weaker-than-expected second-quarter GDP data in Hong Kong, and China stocks were hit by sharp drops in A-shares on the mainland.

Handset maker Foxconn tumbled nearly 20 pct after warning of a significant decline in first-half earnings, while Ping An Insurance, China's second largest insurer, was down 0.8 pct after reporting slight drop in interim profit.

China coal firms slumped after Beijing announced a hike in export taxes on coking coal and coke amid tight domestic supply.

Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) lost over 4 pct on news that China will levy a temporary tax on aluminum alloy exports.

Other commodity stocks were also mostly down as investors continue to worry that slower global growth could reduce demand for energy and raw materials.

The Hang Seng index ended the morning down 246.11 points or 1.16 pct at 20,914.47, off a low of 20,910.25 and high of 21,206.60.

Turnover was 23.2 bln hkd.

The Hong Kong government announced Friday evening that the territory's economy grew 4.2 pct year-on-year in the three months to June, against a revised 7.3 pct growth in the first quarter.

On a seasonally adjusted quarter-to-quarter comparison, GDP fell by 1.4 pct in real terms in the second quarter. It was the first quarter-to-quarter decline since the second quarter of 2003.

The Shanghai market's main index ended the morning session down 3.14 pct.

China coal firms slumped after news that China is raising export tax on coking coal to 10 pct from 5 pct while tax on coke will be increased to 40 pct from 25 pct from Wednesday.

China Shenhua Energy was down 0.65 hkd or 2.65 pct at 23.85, China Coal slumped 0.56 hkd or 4.49 pct at 11.92, and Yanzhou Coal fell 0.48 hkd or 3.97 pct at 11.60.

Chalco lost 0.29 hkd or 4.39 pct at 6.31 on news that China will levy a temporary 15 pct tax on aluminum alloy exports.

Other commodity stocks were also mostly down on concerns that slower global growth could dent demand for energy and raw materials.

Among oil stocks, CNOOC lost 0.28 hkd or 2.61 pct at 10.44, PetroChina was down 0.12 hkd or 1.21 pct at 9.83, Sinopec fell 0.14 hkd or 1.79 pct to 7.68.

Among gold firms, Zhaojin Mining was down 0.21 hkd or 3.89 pct at 5.19 despite reporting a 34.6 pct growth in its first-half net profit to 214.4 mln yuan. Narrower profit margins worried investors.

Sino Gold fell 1.95 hkd or 6.3 pct at 28.95 after it said it posted a net loss of 2.66 mln aud in the first half of the year, against a loss 3.12 mln a year earlier.

Lingbao Gold was down 0.09 hkd or 4.31 pct at 2.0.

Among other metals firms, Angang Steel lost 0.34 hkd or 3.21 pct at 10.26, Hunan Nonferrous Metals was down 0.05 hkd or 3.60 pct at 1.34 and Jingxi Copper slumped 0.46 hkd or 4.24 pct at 10.40.

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