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By Bloomberg

Hong Kong stocks slipped, after the benchmark index yesterday rose to a six-year high, as utilities led declines. Units of China's two biggest rail companies were suspended from trading after a report they may be merged.

Hong Kong & China Gas Co. slid 1.4 percent, leading its peers lower. Hengan International Group Co. fell 1.9 percent after BNP Paribas SA cut its rating on the diaper-maker. SmarTone Telecommunications Holdings Ltd. dropped 3.4 percent after full-year profit fell. Zhuzhou CSR Times Electric Co. jumped 7.7 percent before being suspended. Parent CSR Corp. is one of the rail companies that halted trading today.

The Hang Seng Index fell 0.2 percent to 25,259.95 as of 1:06 p.m. in Hong Kong. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index, or H-shares gauge, advanced 0.7 percent to 11,387.12. Both measures yesterday rose the most since November, with the Hang Seng Index surging to its highest since May 2008, as growth in mainland service industries accelerated and the risk of protests in Hong Kong's financial district eased.

"The market is nervous," said Andrew Sullivan, head of sales trading at Espirito Santo Securities Inc. "There is very little company news and it's all about the macro. Investors are now cautious ahead of several central bank decisions."

The Bank of Japan kept its pledge to increase the monetary base at an annual pace of 60 trillion yen to 70 trillion yen ($667 billion), the bank said in a statement today, in line with all 31 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. The European Central Bank will announce a monetary policy decision today.

High-Speed Rail

Locomotive manufacturers CSR and China CNR Ltd. were suspended from trading today after Caixin magazine reported on its website that the Chinese government is seeking to merge them to support exports of high-speed railway technologies.

The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index traded at 7.8 times estimated earnings yesterday, compared with 11.7 for the Hang Seng Index and 16.7 for the Standard & Poor's 500 Index.

Futures on the S&P 500 were little changed today. The underlying gauge slid 0.1 percent yesterday while the Nasdaq Composite Index fell the most in almost a month, dragged down by losses in Apple Inc. after a competitor introduced new smartphones and the company faced criticism for the theft of celebrity photos.

China Hongqiao Group Ltd. was suspended from trading. The maker of aluminum products is seeking as much as $205 million in a share sale, according to terms for the deal obtained by Bloomberg News.