Hong Kong shares closed down 0.48 percent Thursday, falling for a second day and following losses in property stocks after sharp gains earlier this week.

The benchmark Hang Seng Index opened 0.36 percent lower at 22, 237.37. It moved between 22,266.74 and 22,002.79 during the day's session and finished down 107.59 points at 22,210.52.

Analysts said they expect the benchmark index to consolidate near current levels and trade between 21,300 and 22,500 in the near term, after it hit a fresh 14-month high on Tuesday.

Turnover went up to 69.95 billion HK dollars (about 9.04 billion U.S. dollars) from Wednesday's 67.71 billion HK dollars ( about 8.75 billion U. S. dollars).

China Enterprises Index went down 41.66 points, or 0.32 percent, to close at 12,959.93 points.

All four major stock categories lost. The properties sub-index became the biggest loser and dropped 1.61 percent. The utilities fell 0.72 percent, the commerce and industry, 0.44 percent and the finance, 0.26 percent.

Banking giant HSBC Holdings shed 0.39 percent to close at 88.90 HK dollars. Heavyweight China Mobile, by far the largest mobile carrier in the mainland, slid 1.23 percent to 76.30 HK dollars.

MTR Corp. lost 3.0 percent to 27.85 HK dollars, Sun Hung Kai Properties fell 2.8 percent to 123.30 HK dollars, Sino Land was down 1.8 percent at 16.38 HK dollars, while Hang Lung Properties declined 0.8 percent to 31.15 HK dollars. Cheung Kong, the flagship of Hong Kong's richest man Li Ka-shing, fell 1.12 percent.

However, analysts said they expect developers to recoup their losses in the near term on the robust property market.

Bank of China rose 0.22 percent to close at 4.58 HK dollars. ICBC ended flat at 6.33 HK dollars. CCB moved 0.58 percent down to 6.93 HK dollars.

As for energy shares, PetroChina dropped 0.59 percent to 10.12 HK dollars, Sinopec Corp fell 1.32 percent to 6.71 HK dollars, while off-shore oil producer CNOOC moved up 0.33 percent to 12.24 HK dollars

Blue-chip retailer Esprit ended down 2.6 percent after declined first quarter sales report. (7.742 HK dollars = 1 U.S. dollar)