Hong Kong shares end morning sharply lower led by China plays, properties UPDATE |
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Wed, 10 Jan 2007 06:41
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HONG KONG (XFN-ASIA) - Share prices finished the morning session sharply lower, extending the correction seen this week on continued profit-taking in China stocks and property counters, dealers said.They said investors stayed cautious due to a lack of strong leads and following a lackluster performance on Wall Street overnight.The Hang Seng Index ended the morning down 366.12 points or 1.84 pct at 19,531.96, off a low of 19,507.97 and high of 19,693.70. The index has dropped nearly 680 points so far this week.Turnover was 37.6 bln hkd.'The sell-off looks to be a correction as there was no clear sign of an exodus of funds from the local market,' said Marco Mak, research head at Tai Fook Securities.Kenny Tang, associate director at Tung Tai Securities, said the market is digesting recent gains in property and financial counters.'Profit-taking was across the board although property counters and China stocks led the decline following their recent run-up,' he said.He said investors are also discounting the possibility that interest rates may not be cut this year, which undermined property counters further.The property sector index ended the morning down 522.46 points or 2.14 pct at 23,927.50, with Cheung Kong losing 2.55 hkd or 2.51 pct to 99.15 and Henderson Land down 0.85 hkd or 1.77 pct at 47.05.Banks were also lower, with HSBC down 1.30 hkd or 0.92 pct at 140.20 and Bank of East Asia down 0.85 hkd or 1.93 pct at 43.10.The Hang Seng China Enterprises lost 350.26 points or 3.51 pct to 9,617.22 as financial stocks were hit hard by profit-taking.China Life lost 1.70 hkd or 6.64 pct at 23.90, ICBC was down 0.13 hkd or 2.78 pct at 4.55, PICC was down 0.21 hkd or 5.07 pct at 3.93 and China Construction Bank down 0.09 hkd or 1.91 pct at 4.63.Elsewhere, CNOOC was down 0.15 hkd or 2.19 pct at 6.71 and Chalco was down 0.07 hkd or 1.02 pct at 6.82.(1 usd = 7.8 hkd)leonora.walet@xfn.comlw/rc
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Hong Kong shares lower in early trade in line with Wall St, Tokyo weakness 