HK shares end 0.8 pct up led by China banks

HONG KONG, July 4 (Reuters) - Hong Kong shares closed up 0.8 percent on Friday, rebounding from a near 4-percent drop in the last two days, with Chinese financials posting strong gains after the nation's biggest bank issued a positive earnings estimate.

Industrial & Commercial Bank of China (1398.HK: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), the world's largest lender by market capitalisation, said on Thursday its first half profit grew at least 50 percent, based on Chinese accounting standards. [ID:nHKG350323]

But coal stocks tumbled, with Yanzhou Coal (1171.HK: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) taking the biggest hit, on rumours of a possible tax adjustment on the commodity. Some analysts dismissed the speculation as it didn't appear to tie in with China's ongoing battle against rising inflation, and attributed today's losses to institutional selling.

The Hang Seng Index unofficially closed up 173.95 points at 21,416.73.

The China Enterprises Index .HSCE of top locally-listed Chinese companies rose 0.8 percent (Reporting by Parvathy Ullatil; Editing by Jonathan Hopfner)