Hong Kong shares closed up 0.55 percent yesterday, supported by gains in mainland telecom stocks after a two-day slide and led by a 4.4 percent jump in oil refiner Sinopec Corp and advances in local blue chips.

Gains were trimmed by a 2.1 percent fall in CNOOC on retreating crude oil prices and a 3.9 percent drop in Cosco Pacific amid a lack of clarity in its bid to buy some concession rights at Greece`s Piraeus Port.

The benchmark Hang Seng Index (HSI) closed 132.04 points higher at 24,255.29 after testing the 24,000 level in the morning session. Advances on the index were shored up by a 0.9 percent gain in index heavyweight HSBC Holdings and a 0.6 percent rise in China Mobile. Turnover on the mainboard fell to HK$63.7 billion from HK$78.91 billion on Wednesday.

"The lacklustre performance on the mainland bourses and apprehension ahead of the US jobs data on Friday have put many investors on the sidelines," said Peter Lai, director with DBS Vickers.

Coal stocks also hurt the mainland markets, with the Shanghai Composite Index closing 0.54 percent lower. Yanzhou Coal skidded 3 percent, following Wednesday`s 8.9 percent fall after the company was forced to supply extra coal to power generators at a discount in its home province of Shandong.

Earlier, the vice governor of Shaanxi province also urged miners to hold coal prices for the next three months, sending coal stocks lower.

Rival companies China Shenhua and China Coal Energy also slid further on fears that the price regulation would spread to other parts on the mainland. Shenhua was down 2.1 percent and China Coal gave up 3.4 percent.

Mainland metal stocks dropped on worries that the price intervention in the coal sector may be duplicated in other commodities. Angang Steel plunged 5.5 percent, while Maanshan Iron & Steel fell 3.3 percent.

Sinopec Shanghai Petrochemical, a subsidiary of Sinopec Corp soared 7.3 percent after a fire damaged Sinopec`s Maoming refinery, providing Sinopec Shanghai an opportunity to hike prices, analysts said.

Telecom stocks recovered some ground after two days of hefty losses following Monday`s industry restructuring announcements. China Netcom finished 2 percent higher at HK$23.25, and China Telecom gained 0.6 percent after it said it had attracted interest from a number of strategic investors. China Unicom closed 0.3 percent lower, although it had traded higher through most of the session.