By Mia Lamar
HONG KONG--Hong Kong shares closed lower Thursday, hurt by a
sharp selloff in Macau casino shares.
The blue chip Hang Seng Index fell 196.57 points, or 0.8%, to
24387.56 after trading between 24364.58 and 24502.30 in the
session. Turnover totaled HK$77.52 billion (US$10 billion) compared
with HK$69.7 billion Wednesday.
Macau casino shares dragged down the index following data that
showed a greater-than-expected slowdown in revenue from
lower-stakes gamblers last month.
"The market is shocked," said Deutsche Bank, which cut its
forecast for growth in Macau gross gaming revenue this year to 6%
from 9%. "We expect Street earnings cuts to follow."
Shares of Sands China Ltd. (1928.HK), the Macau unit of U.S.
casino giant Las Vegas Sands Corp. (LVS), slumped 5.8% to HK$52.35.
Galaxy Entertainment Group Ltd. (0027.HK) fell 6.4% to HK$59.40.
Together, the two stocks accounted for a quarter of the index's
decline on Thursday.
Write to Mia Lamar at mia.lamar@wsj.com