HONG KONG - Hong Kong shares advanced Thursday, led by gains in heavyweight China Mobile even as banking shares fell.

The blue chip Hang Seng Index rose 212.94 points, or 1.1 percent, to close at 20,277.51.

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"Hang Seng Index will likely hover around 20,000 level until the earnings season next month... I think what we see now is a reasonable consolidation after the surge late last year," said Kitty Chan, a director at Cash Asset Management.

Hong Kong's stock market is "quite expensive," Garry Evans, a strategist at HSBC, wrote in a research report. He said Hang Seng Index is trading at 19 times of forward price/earning ratio, higher than its past six-year average of 15.7 times.

The broader market picked up its strength in the afternoon led by China Mobile - the mainland's biggest mobile phone operator and the second-largest component of the benchmark index by market capitalization. The stock ended 2.8 percent higher at HK$70.55.

Hong Kong Exchanges closed 2.6 percent higher at HK$89.75, after hitting record high HK$89.85 in the afternoon.

Bucking the uptrend, China Construction Bank fell 2.2 percent to HK$4.79 while Bank of China was down 1.2 percent to HK$4.03.

Shares of Chinese developers extended their weaknesses on the full imposition of land appreciation tax. Lehman Brothers wrote in a research report that it is not yet the time to "bargain hunt" for Chinese property stocks.

The full implementation of land appreciation tax "could be more severe than expected...There could be more stringent implementation of other existing measures this year," it said.

Developers with exposure in affluent cities such as Shanghai and Beijing are likely to be hit most, analysts said.

China Resources Land fell 4.7 percent to HK$8.20, Guangzhou R&F was off 3.7 percent to HK$15.18, China Overseas Land down 3.5 percent at HK$8.85.