HONG KONG, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- Hong Kong stocks shed 2.51 percent to close at 20,375.37 Friday, tracking losses on the Chinese mainland market, which resulted from speculation that the authorities may move to rein in excess of liquidity.

    The blue chip Hang Seng Index opened giving up more than what it gained in the previous session, and finished the week off 0.96 percent. The benchmark index once topped the 21,000 mark during trading on Tuesday, only to find strong resistance. Nevertheless, the index will find initial support at 20,300, analysts said.

    The Hang Seng Index futures were trading at a discount of 74.37 after shedding as much as 566 points Friday, giving no clear clues as to where to go next.

    Turnover rose to 93.64 billion HK dollars (12.01 billion U.S. dollars) from Thursday's rather high 88.45 billion HK dollars.

    Market heavyweight and banking giant HSBC was down 1.4 HK dollars, or 1.64 percent, at 83.8 HK dollars. Its local unit Hang Seng Bank was down 0.6 percent.

    China Mobile, by far the largest mobile carrier on the Chinese mainland, extended its gaining rally at 88.55 HK dollars, up 1.45 HK dollars, or 1.67 percent.

    China Construction Bank, the third largest stock in terms of index weighting, tumbled 0.19 HK dollars, or 3.2 percent, to close at 5.75 HK dollars. ICBC, the mainland's largest commercial lender, lost 2.48 percent to close at 2.11 HK dollars.

    Bank of China lost 2.67 percent, and BOC Hong Kong ended down 2.23 percent.

    The sluggish performance of the mainland banking shares also made the finance sub-index an overall loser. It finished the day down 2.52 percent. The properties sub-index suffered the most, losing 3.61 percent. The commerce and industry sub-index and the utilities category lost 2.4 percent and 0.91 percent, respectively.

    Cheung Kong, the business conglomerate headed by Hong Kong's richest man Li Ka-shing, tumbled 4.09 percent to close at 94.95 HK dollars in spite of improving prospect analysts said they saw for the Hong Kong properties market.

    SHK Properties, the leading residential housing developer in special administrative region, also lost 3.33 percent, joining the local team of tumbling developers.

    The China Enterprises Index finished the day down 3.65 percent at 11,612.18, tracking the benchmark index on the Shanghai market, which shed 2.85 percent.

    China Life, the leading insurance player, was off 3.18 percent at 33.5 HK dollars, and Ping An lost 2.5 HK dollars, or 3.73 percent, to close at 64.45 HK dollars.

    The energy shares also lost ground, with PetroChina moving down 4.05 percent, Sinopec dropping 5.08 percent and offshore oil producer CNOOC down 3.09 percent.

    HKEx, the sole stock exchange operator, retreated 3.52 percent to close at 142.4 HK dollars after recently hitting fresh highs.

Special Report:  Global Financial Crisis