Hong Kong shares end morning sharply lower; follow US, China leads - UPDATE |
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Fri, 26 Jan 2007 06:30
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HONG KONG (XFN-ASIA) - Share prices ended the morning session sharply lower following Wall Street's biggest pullback in two months overnight and falls in the China market, dealers said.They said selling was across the board, with many investors locking in profit after recent rallies.The Hang Seng index ended the morning down 416.95 points or 2.02 pct at 20,252.88, off a low of 20,204.67 and a high of 20,457.48.Turnover was 36.07 bln hkd.'Falls on Wall Street overnight and in the China market today were the major culprits for the local market's very weak performance this morning,' said Castor Pang, strategist at Sun Hung Kai Financial Group.'Scores of investors are of the view that there is still a chance for the US market to fall further because of some weak economic data. That housing sales were lower than expected have also raised concerns that the consumer market may also be affected adversely and eventually exert more pressures on the equity market,' he said.Pang said concerns are growing on the mainland about the prospects of the government adopting more measures to cool down robust economic growth and try to prevent the economy from overheating.'People are getting edgy about the type of macro-economic tightening measures that the Chinese government might take in the coming months. Some have started to speculate whether or not those measures will include a further increase in interest rates or increase in the reserve ratio requirements on banks, just like what have been adopted in the past,' he said.He said blue chips which led recent market rallies posted some of the biggest falls.Among blue chips, China Mobile was down 3.25 hkd or 2.27 pct at 72.90, HSBC shed 0.60 hkd or 0.42 pct at 143.50, China Life fell 0.55 hkd or 2.38 pct at 22.60 and Hutchison Whampoa retreated 1.0 hkd or 1.25 pct at 78.85.The property sub-index lost 537.29 points or 2.17 pct at 24,277.58, with Cheung Kong down 2.60 hkd or 2.53 pct at 100.10, Henderson Land sliding 0.60 hkd or 1.31 pct at 45.20, Sun Hung Kai Properties falling 2.20 hkd or 2.27 pct at 94.85 and Sino Land retreating 0.52 hkd or 2.74 pct at 18.48.China financials were mostly lower with China Construction Bank down 0.18 hkd or 3.73 pct at 4.64, Bank of Communications sliding 0.26 hkd or 3.01 pct at 8.37, Bank of China losing 0.07 hkd or 1.75 pct at 3.92 and Ping An shedding 0.95 hkd or 2.47 pct at 37.55.Local banking stocks were also mostly lower, with the sub-index losing 372.71 points or 1.14 pct at 32,232.39.Hang Seng Bank fell 0.90 hkd or 0.83 pct at 107.70, Bank of East Asia was down 1.20 hkd or 2.67 pct at 43.80 and BOC Hong Kong climbed down 0.60 hkd or 2.87 pct at 20.30.Among H-shares, PetroChina slid 0.26 hkd or 2.64 pct at 9.59, Chalco lost 0.27 hkd or 3.61 pct at 7.20, Angang New Steel was down 0.78 hkd or 5.97 pct at 12.28 and China Unicom rose 0.06 hkd or 0.55 pct at 10.92.The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index fell 290.03 points or 2.94 pct at 9,574.03.(1 usd = 7.8 hkd)jun.concepcion@xfn.comjc/km
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Hong Kong shares end morning higher led by properties, China financials 