HSI ends up 161 pts at 23,466 midday; T/O at HK$27.7bn

    Hong Kong stocks closed modestly higher on Thursday morning session following the rally of the US equity markets overnight. The Hang Seng Index (HSI) opened up 107 points at 23,412. It briefly soared 195 points to an intra-day high of 23,500.
  The HSI ended up 161 points or 0.7% to 23,466. The H-share index rose 96 points or 1% to 9,737. Half-day turnover reduced slightly to HK$27.7 billion from HK$29.6 billion on Wednesday.
  The northbound quota balance of the "Shanghai-HK Connect" program was RMB12.702 billion, accounting for 97.7% of the daily allowed quota of RMB13 billion. At 11:39 a.m., the southbound quota balance was RMB10.356 billion, accounting for 98.6% of the daily allowed quota of RMB10.5 billion.
  Oil futures rallied overnight, with the US benchmark settling at a 15-month high. Sinopec (00386) rose 2.6% to HK$5.9. CNOOC (00883) jumped 3.3% to HK$10.8. PetroChina (00857) shot up 3.5% to HK$5.57.
  China Life (02628) edged up 0.3% to HK$20.2. Private investment firm Starwood Capital said it sold a stake in a roughly US$2 billion portfolio of US hotels to a group led by China Life.
  HSBC (00005) went ex-dividend today. It ended up 0.8% to HK$58.75.
  China Mobile (00941), which is scheduled to report its earnings today, dipped 0.1% to HK$92.8. Zhuzhou CRRC Times (03898) slipped 2.3% to HK$38.3 after a slew of research houses' bearish comments.
  Oil service providers were higher on Nomura's bullish view. Anton Oilfield (03337) surged 9.7% to HK$1.13. Petro-king Oilfield (02178) soared 12% to HK$0.56. China Oilfield Services (02883) ascended 7.4% to HK$8.13.