Spring Festival Special 2008 

    HONG KONG, Feb. 6 (Xinhua) -- Sharp losses on Wall Street overnight on concerns that the U.S. may be heading for a recession battered Hong Kong shares in an abbreviated session Wednesday ahead of the Chinese New Year holiday.

    The blue-chip Hang Seng Index ended 1339.24 points, or 5.40 percent lower, at 23,469.46, after swinging between 23,592.31 and 23,283.97 during the session.

    Turnover totaled 70.66 billion HK dollars (9.07 billion U.S. dollars), down from 85.03 billion HK dollars (10.91 billion U.S. dollars) Tuesday.

    Hong Kong markets will be closed Thursday and Friday for Chinese New Year.

    Traders said they expect the market to remain under pressure next week on continuing concerns about the U.S. economy and the subprime crisis, though valuations are now attractive.

    The Hang Seng Index is now 16 percent lower than its level at the start of the year.

    The Dow Jones Industrial Average slumped 370.03 points, or 2.93 percent, overnight to 12265.13, which is its biggest percentage loss since Feb. 27, 2007, after the Institute for Supply Management's gauge for the services sector shrank to its lowest reading since October 2001. That came after Friday's report of a contraction in the U.S. jobs market.

    Analysts said more U.S. data due out later this week will be key in determining the near-term performance of the Hong Kong market. The U.S.'s December consumer credit report is due Thursday and its wholesale trade data for the month are due Friday.

    Worries about a potential surge in claims related to China's worst snow storms in 50 years hit mainland insurers Wednesday.

    Non-life insurer PICC Property and Casualty fell 5.7 percent to7.89 HK dollars, while Ping An Insurance, which has a non-life insurance business, dropped 8 percent to 56.70 HK dollars. Life insurance-focused China Life fell 7.8 percent to 29.40 HK dollars.

    Chinese financial firms fell on concerns macroeconomic tightening measures may hurt their lending growth. Industrial and Commercial Bank, China's largest lender by assets, fell 6.4 percent to 4.87 HK dollars and Bank of Communications dropped 8.4 percent to 9.13 HK dollars. (One U.S. dollar = 7.796 HK dollars)