Hong Kong shares close morning lower

Share prices closed the morning lower in reaction to the steep declines on Wall Street overnight, but recent sustained falls on the local bourse help limit losses in the magnitude seen in US markets, dealers said.

Market sentiment remains cautious ahead of the results announcement by China Unicom and PCCW tomorrow, they said, noting that the Hang Seng Index may drop below 9,500 points in the next few days.

The Hang Seng index closed down 121.66 points or 1.24% at 9,669.02, off a high of 9,699.61 and a low of 9,629.22.

The Hang Seng September contract was at 9,651 points.

The China Enterprises index was down 23.91 points at 1,919.82, while the CAC index was 25.16 points lower at 1,054.33.

The GEM index was down 2.52 points at 134.86.