2014.07.0703:30:28UTC+00Hong Kong stocks down as casino shares drop

Hong Kong stocks trickled down as the benchmark index of the city declined on weaker performance of casino shares following the previous week’s record breaking high.

The Hang Sang Seng Index is down by 0.2% to 23,508.20, 1:06 pm, Hong Kong time. The gauge climbed as much as 0.2% in trade after climbing by 1.4% last week. The index’s trading volume was 30% less than the 30-day intraday average. The H-share index or the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index of mainland shares inched down with a less than 0.1% decline to 10,485.34.

The Hang Sang Seng Index’s biggest losers asre Galaxy Entertainment Group Ltd. and Sands China Ltd. which dragged the index by at least 1.6% for both stocks. Meanwhile, property developers China Overseas Land & Investment Ltd. and China Resources Land Ltd. gained at least 2%. Bank of America Corp. leader, Merill Lynch predicted a probable first-half decline for the sportswear maker driving Li Ning Co. down by 6.6%.

Institutional sales director at UOB-Kay Hian Holdings Ltd., Steven Leung commented that market participants are becoming more and more wary at the way the market has gone up a fair bit while investors are anticipating further indicators that might tell them whether Asia’s biggest economy will gather more momentum.

Chinese policymakers recently proposed targeted measures to boost the economy’s growth causing Hong Kong’s benchmark stock measure to recover by as much as 11% from the year’s low in March up until last week. This week, market participants are expecting the Chinese report trade and inflation data.

Chinese Premier’s economic growth target of 7.5% is highly possible to be met within the year as per the opinion of Finance Ministry’s Research Institute for Fiscal Science director, Jia Kang, as reported by China Securities Journal.