Hong Kong stocks surge 2.41% on Wall Street rally

HONG KONG, July 17 (Xinhua) -- Hong Kong stocks soared 511.22 points on Thursday, boosted by Wall Street's big rally overnight amid falling oil prices. The benchmark Hang Seng Index soared 601.74 points, or 2.83 percent, to open at 21,825.24 and climbed as much as 669.03 points, or 3.15 percent, to the day's highest 21,892.53. The market's momentum slowed down in the afternoon as some investors chose to take profits from the big rally, trimming the gains to the day's lowest 21,672.27 before jumping 511.22 points, or 2.41 percent, to close at 21,734.72. Turnover rose to 63.46 billion HK dollars (8.13 billion U.S. dollars) from Wednesday's 59.81 billion HK dollars (7.67 billion U.S. dollars). Among the 43 components of the benchmark Hang Seng Index, gainers outnumber declining shares 35 to 7, with Cosco Pacific unchanged at... [read full story]