HK shares seen lower on Wall Street slide

HONG KONG, Aug 8 (Reuters) - Hong Kong shares are seen lower on Friday after Wall Street took a beating overnight, hurt by disappointing earnings from a major insurer, higher unemployment data and lower retail sales.

U.S. stocks tumbled on Thursday with the Dow .DJI slipping 1.9 percent after a big loss from insurer American International Group fueled fears of more fallout from the credit crisis and Wal-Mart's (WMT.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) cautious sales forecast added to concerns about consumer spending.

Citigroup (C.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) added to the unease in the financial sector after the bank agreed to buy back more than $7 billion of illiquid auction-rate securities to settle charges it misled investors about the debt's risk. [ID:nN07477337].

Oil rose to settle above $120 per barrel on Thursday on expectations a one million barrel per day pipeline attacked by Kurdish separatists in Turkey could remain shut for up to two weeks.

Hong Kong shares closed up 0.7 percent but off early highs on Thursday, hurt by falls in resources stocks on retreating commodity prices, while shipping counters tracked losses in the global freight index.

STOCKS TO WATCH- * China Shenhua Energy Co Ltd (1088.HK: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), the world's most valuable coal producer, said on Thursday its prelimary first half net profit rose 43.6 percent to 14.15 billion yuan ($2.06), based on Chinese accounting standards. [ID:nHKG99313]. For statement please see here

* Lenovo Group Ltd (0992.HK: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), the world's fourth-largest PC maker, posted a 65.3 percent rise in net quarterly profit, the slowest growth in a year, as it copes with a U.S. slowdown and weaker Chinese demand after a devastating earthquake.

China's largest maker of personal computers reported a net profit of $110.49 million from April to June, which was largely in line with expectations for $107.47 million, the mean forecast of four analysts polled by Reuters.

* Profit at Manulife Financial Corp (0945.HK: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) (MFC.TO: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) fell 8.5 percent in the second quarter, missing analyst forecasts, as weak equity markets, a stronger Canadian dollar and tax-related provisions all took a toll. [ID:nN07273739]. For a statement please see here ------------------MARKET SNAPSHOT @ 00:02 GMT ---------------

INSTRUMENT LAST PCT CHG NET CHG

S&P 500 .SPX 1,266.07 -1.79% -23.120

USD/JPY <JPY=> 109.37 0.05% 0.050

10-YR US TSY YLD <US10YT=RR> 3.931 -- 0.004

SPOT GOLD <XAU=> $872.75 0.18% 1.550

US CRUDE CLc1 $119.87 -0.12% -0.150

DOW JONES .DJI 11431.43 -1.93% -224.64

ASIA ADRS .BKAS 138.44 -2.89% -4.12 ------------------------------------------------------------ > US soy futures higher on bounce from 4-mth low [ID:nN07347662] > SE Asian Stocks-Thailand up on Thaksin exile talk [.SO] > US STOCKS-AIG, Wal-Mart spark sell-off on Wall Street [.N] > Oil rises on pipeline fire in Turkey [O/R] > Dollar gains on strong housing data, ECB rate view [USD/] > TREASURIES-Bonds rally on weak economy, strong auction [US/] > Gold ends down as dollar up on U.S. home data [GOL/] (Reporting by Parvathy Ullatil; Editing by Jonathan Hopfner)