Hong Kong stock market tracked overnight gains in the United
States market to open higher Wednesday but slumped to end in
negative ground.
The benchmark Hang Seng Index opened up 313.35 points, or 1.29
percent, at 24,605.15 but lost more than it had gained to finish
morning trading at 23,918.72, down 373.08, or 1.54 percent, and
widened its losses in the afternoon to close at 23,653.69, down
638.11 points, or 2.63 percent.
The market's key barometer fluctuated between 24,631.59 and 23,
586.37 on a turnover of 105.08 billion HK dollars (13.47 billion U.
S. dollars), higher than Tuesday's 92.63 billion HK dollars (11.88
billion U.S. dollars).
Analysts attributed the loss to regional falls, including on the
mainland's Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges, as well as an
11.45 billion U.S. dollar quarterly loss recorded by UBS.
The market had already absorbed the support from hopes for a
rate cut by the Federal Reserve, analysts said, adding that they
expected the market to remain volatile in the near future as
concerns over the U.S. sub-prime mortgage continue to linger over
the markets.
Morgan Stanley, however, reportedly upgraded its view on the
Hong Kong market from cautious to in-line on strong fundamentals,
while Citigroup said the economy in China's southern administrative
region may have reached a turning point.
The finance stocks on Wednesday suffered the most among the four
major stock categories, losing 1,048.36 points, or 3.08 percent, to
close at 33,029.26, with the heavy-weighted blue chip HSBC Holdings
down 0.5 HK dollars, or 0.43 percent, at 117.1 HK dollars while its
local unit Hang Seng Bank went up 1.6 HK dollars or 1.04 percent to
155.9 HK dollars.
Hang Seng Bank was also one of the seven gainers out of the
total 43 blue chip stocks on the Hong Kong market Wednesday.
Bank of China, one of the mainland's largest commercial banks by
market capitalization, went down 0.06 HK dollars, or 1.8 percent,
to close at 3.27 HK dollars, while BOC Hong Kong went down 0.52 HK
dollars, or 2.67 percent, to close at 18.98 HK dollars.
Mainland insurer Ping An slumped 4 HK dollars, or 6.52 percent,
to close at 57.4 HK dollars while China Life lost 2.3 HK dollars,
or 7.35 percent, to close at 29 HK dollars.
The properties sub-index went down 805.12 points, or 2.32
percent, at 33,847.65 while the commerce and industry genre closed
down 376.19 points, or 2.63 percent, at 13,914.82.
The utilities sub-index turned out the only gainer among the
four major categories, up 284.96 points, or 0.69 percent, at 41,
555.43.
China Unicom, one of the mainland's major mobile carriers, went
up 0.32 HK dollars, or 1.81 percent, at 18.02 HK dollars on news
that it may record a profit that would no less than double the
figure from the previous year.
Coal industry and winter clothes makers losing some of the
ground it had gained in previous sessions on rising demand due to
severe winter weather conditions across China recently.
China Shenhua, the mainland coal mining conglomerate, went down
1.3 HK dollars, or 3.06 percent, to close at 41.25 HK dollars.
(Xinhua News Agency January 31, 2008)
