Stocks News
- Hong Kong stocks close flat ahead of U.S. Fed meeting
Date: 19-Sep-2007 Sources: (People's Daily)
Hong Kong stocks closed virtually unchanged Tuesday in volatile trade ahead of U.S. Federal Reserve meeting Tuesday night.
The benchmark Hang Seng index ended down 22 points at 24,576, recovering from early low of 24,368. Turnover was at 80.5 billion HK dollars (10.34 billion U.S. dollars), little changed from 81 billion HK dollars on Monday.
Chinese mainland stocks fared better, with H-share index ending up 57 points at 14,733, off a low of 14,516.
Analysts said the Fed decision and its accompanying statement will be watched closely to gauge the prospects for the world's largest economy following recent turmoil in housing and credit markets.
Meanwhile, there are doubts whether Hong Kong banks can follow the expected U.S rate cut and reduce their lending rates given high interbank offer rates locally, they said.
The three mainland insurers benefited from the rate hike on the mainland. PICC P&C surged 10.31 percent to 11.98 HK dollars, Ping An jumped 3.77 percent to 90.95 HK dollars; China Life slightly climbed 0.13 per cent to 38.25 HK dollars.
The six mainland banks were little changed. ICBC dipped 0.2 percent after UBS raised its rating to buy with target at 6.3 HK dollars; Bank of China trimmed 0.26 percent; CCB, CM Bank, Bankcomm and CITIC Bank lost 0.175 percent to 0.44 percent.
On other bank stocks side, HSBC was down 0.25 percent, Hang Seng Bank up 1.22 per cent, BOC HK down 1.35 percent, Bank of East Asia up 1.53 percent, and StanChart up 1.56 percent.
On Chinese telecom stocks side, China Mobile was down 0.56 percent, China Unicom down 1.6 percent, Netcom up 0.22 percent, and China Telecom up 3.12 per cent.
On property stocks side, K. Wah Int'l and Sino Land mounted 5. 16 percent and lost 1.7 percent, respectively; Cheung Kong modestly rose 0.08 percent; Henderson Land dived 2.79 percent on results setback; SHK PPT climbed a mere 0.26 percent.
On commodity stocks side, PetroChina was up 0.87 percent, and Sinopec Corp down 1.45 percent; China Oilfield climbed 2.99 percent before its IPO of A shares on September 20. Precious metal stocks were strong as gold price continuously rose, Zhaojin Gold Mining up 3.85 percent at 22.95 HK dollars in tightened gain after setting a new high of 24 HK dollars; Zijin Mining was down 0.915 percent after striking a new high. (One U.S. dollar equals 7.782 HK dollars)
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