HSI ends down 292pts at 24,569 midday; turnover at HK$48.5bn

    Hong Kong stocks closed sharply lower on Thursday morning session. The benchmark index opened 216 points lower after the Fed kept its interest rate steady and said it would be "patient" in making decision of when to raise rate. The Dow also slid 195 points overnight.
  By midday, the Hang Seng Index ended down 292 points or 1.2% to 24,569, off an intra-day high of 24,739 and day low of 24,538. The H-share index fell 279 points or 2.3% to 11,683. Half-day turnover rose to HK$48.5bn from to HK$41.4bn on Wednesday.
  By 11:31 a.m., the southbound quota balance was RMB10.186bn, while the northbound quota balance was RMB13.352bn, accounting for 97% and 102.7% of the daily allowed quotas respectively. The percentage is more than 100% when sell trade value is larger than buy order value.
  Hengan (01044) put on 2.8% to HK$88.15 after Goldman Sachs put the stock into its conviction buy list. It was the top blue-chip gainer. COLI (00688) declined 3.6% to HK$22.95 making it the worst blue chip. Chinese senior government officials in Beijing and Shanghai have recently denied talks of removal of home purchase restrictions in the cities.
  StanChart (02888) slid 4.2% to HK$106.3 after Macquarie forecast the bank may see a US$3.9bn commodity finance related losses.