SHANGHAI, Aug 22 (Reuters) - Hong Kong stocks fell on Thursday, amid persistent worries over political protests and doubts around aggressive rate cuts ahead by the U.S. Federal Reserve.
The Hang Seng index dropped 0.9% to 26,040.98 by the lunchbreak, while Hong Kong China Enterprises Index lost 0.5% to 10,125.89.
Some of Hong Kong's biggest banks published full-page newspaper advertisements on Thursday calling for preservation of law and order in the Chinese territory and condemning violence, as weeks of pro-democracy protests show no sign of abating.
Real estate and services companies, seen vulnerable to protests, led the losses for the day. The Hang Seng properties index dropped 1.9%, led by Henderson Land Development losing 3.7%.
The U.S. central bank's policymakers were deeply divided over whether to cut interest rates last month but were united in wanting to signal they were not on a preset path to more cuts, a message not likely to sit well with U.S. President Donald Trump.
Investors were also not upbeat by the developments on the trade war front.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday said he was "the chosen one" to address trade imbalances with China, even as congressional researchers warned that his tariffs would reduce U.S. economic output by 0.3% in 2020.
On the mainland, stocks eased following a recent strong rally.
The CSI300 index was unchanged at 3,781.53 at the end of the morning session, while the Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.2%, to 2,875.04.
Around the region, MSCI 's Asia ex-Japan stock index was weaker by 0.36% while Japan's Nikkei index was down 0.01%.
The yuan was quoted at 7.074 per U.S. dollar, 0.15% weaker than the previous close of 7.0633.
The largest percentage gainers on the main Shanghai Composite index were Shanghai Feilo Acoustics Co Ltd , up 10.14%, followed by DuZhe Publishing&Media Co Ltd, gaining 10.05% and North China Pharmaceutical Co Ltd, up by 10.04%.
The largest percentage losers on the Shanghai index were Veken Technology Co Ltd, down 8.74%, followed by Zhejiang Great Shengda Packaging Co Ltd, losing 6.24% and Getein Biotech Inc, down by 6.12%.
The top gainers among H-shares were Dongfeng Motor Group Co Ltd, up 2%, followed by SINOPHARM GROUP CO LTD , gaining 1.58% and Guangzhou Automobile Group Co Ltd , up by 1.46%.
The three biggest H-shares percentage decliners were Byd Co Ltd, which fell 5.09%, China Gas Holdings Ltd , which lost 2.5% and Guangdong Investment Ltd , down by 1.9%.
As of 04:17 GMT, China's A-shares were trading at a premium of 29.55% over the Hong Kong-listed H-shares.

Sumber : reuters.com