Hong Kong shares lower led by China Mobile; Xinxin Mining surges on debut UPDATE

Hong Kong shares lower led by China Mobile; Xinxin Mining surges on debut UPDATE

	Published : Fri, 12 Oct 2007 04:17 By : Agencies Print this Story

HONG KONG (XFN-ASIA) - Share prices were lower midmorning as index heavyweight China Mobile tracked falls in its American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) overnight, along with other mainland firms such as China Life Insurance and China Unicom.

Dealers also noted profit-taking pressure after the market's record-setting run, which saw the main index breach the 29,000 points level yesterday.

Wall Street's declines overnight kept the mood generally cautious, but Xinjiang Xinxin Mining Industry made a very strong debut.

At 11.18 am, the Hang Seng Index was down 323.49 points or 1.11 pct at 28,809.53, off a low of 28,647.94 and high of 28,935.67.

Turnover was at 73.13 bln hkd.

'After sharp gains in recent trading sessions, investors have decided to lock in profit using falls overnight of China Mobile's ADRs and Wall Street as excuses,' said Castor Pang, strategist at Sun Hung Kai Financial group.

'The market has risen too much of late and the time is ripe for some correction to take place.'

Despite the pullback, Pang predicts today's losses to be limited to not more than 500 points.

'Investors from the mainland are continuing to chase select H-shares, such as Angang Steel, which are trading at deep discounts relative to A-shares in Shanghai. The appetite for these counters is driving continued fund inflows from the mainland,' he said.

He noted that while there are some concerns in the US over inflationar pressures, investors here have been paying more attention to local factors, notably fund flows from the mainland.

Large-caps were mostly lower, with China Mobile down 3.0 hkd or 2.22 pct at 132.10, Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing down 3.0 hkd or 1.11 pct at 248.80, HSBC down 0.60 hkd or 0.40 pct at 150.10 and Hutchison Whampoa down 0.40 hkd or 0.47 pct at 85.60.

Taking the cue from China Mobile, China Life and China Unicom also tracked falls in their ADR prices overnight.

China Life was down 1.25 hkd or 2.36 pct at 49.6 and China Unicom fell 0.20 hkd or 1.24 pct to 15.98.

China banks were also lower, with China Construction Bank down 0.08 hkd or 1.07 pct at 7.44, Bank of China down 0.10 hkd or 2.08 pct at 4.70, CITIC Bank down 0.12 hkd or 1.87 pct at 6.29 and ICBC down 0.13 hkd or 1.91 pct at 6.67.

Select H-shares bucked the general downtrend, with Angang Steel up 0.979 hkd or 3.13 pct at 32.25, Agile Property up 0.16 hkd or 0.92 pct at 17.60 and China Overseas Land up 0.04 hkd or 0.22 pct at 17.96.

Among local banks, Hang Seng Bank was down 2.50 hkd or 1.67 pct at 147.60, Bank of East Asia up 1.25 hkd or 2.72 pct at 47.15 and BOC Hong Kong up 0.20 hkd or 0.93 pct at 21.70.

Local property developers were mixed, with Cheung Kong flat at 136 hkd, Henderson Land down 0.55 hkd or 0.89 pct at 61.15, Sun Hung Kai down 2.10 hkd or 1.58 pct at 130.40, Sino Land down 0.35 hkd or 1.72 pct at 20 and Wharf Holdings up 0.35 hkd or 0.83 pct at 42.30.

New World Development surged 1.20 hkd or 5.24 pct to 24.10 after announcing that its year to June net profit surged 306 pct to 4.3 bln hkd, as exceptional gains and earnings contributions from associates more than made up for a drop in revenue.

New listing Xinjiang Xinxin was in focus as more than doubled from the IPO price. It was at 13.86 hkd, up 113 pct from the IPO price of 6.50. It opened at 12.20 and hit a high of 13.94.

The Chinese firm is principally engaged in mining, ore processing, smelting and refining of nickel, copper and other non-ferrous metals.

Dickson Concepts fell 0.75 hkd or 9.26 pct to 7.35 after confirming a top-up share placement by strategic shareholder Dickson Investment Holding Corp at 7.37 hkd per share.

Galaxy Entertainment Group shares remained suspended even after announcing a deal to sell a 20.5 pct stake to global private equity fund Permira for 3.81 bln hkd.

(1 usd = 7.8 hkd)

jun.concepcion@xfn.com

jc/rc

xfnjcc/xfnrc

The copying, republication or redistribution of Thomson Financial News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Financial News.