Hong Kong shares lower on mixed Wall Street

HONG KONG (AFX-ASIA) - Share prices were lower in early morning trade on profit-taking after yesterday's gains as Wall Street failed to provide a clear direction in its overnight trade, dealers said. They said concerns over the deteriorating world economy and volatility in global financial markets remain in place, while market sentiment has turned more cautious ahead of the U.S. February PPI data due tonight, which may play a role in the Federal Reserve's monetary policy adjustments. At 10:51 am, the Hang Seng index was down 131.98 points at 13,372.19 on turnover of 1.97 bln hkd. The Hang Seng March contract last traded at 13,360 points. The Hang Seng China Enterprises index was up 3.27 points at 387.47, while the CAC index was down 10.17 points at 1,058.38. TraHK was down 0.15 hkd at 13.55 on volume of 1.50 mln units. The GEM index was down 0.09 points at 276.13 on turnover of 29.27 mln hkd. "Yesterday's gains were just a technical rebound. The downward trend is stil l there. There is no momentum to reverse it," Kenneth Tang, assistant sales manager with Vickers Ballas, said. Tang said the market is just drifting on a lack of fresh leads after U.S. markets closed mixed overnight. "Concerns about the global economy, in particular the U.S. and Japan remained. Investors are also worried about further volatility in U.S. equity markets," Tang said. NASDAQ is expected to see further weakness after the profit warnings from Compaq and Oracle after the close of trade. Dealers said profit-taking affected the property sector this morning. Cheung Kong fell 1.50 to 88.50 and Henderson Land shed 0.60 to 41.70. Sun Hung Kai Properties lost 1.50 to 77.75 ahead of its six months to December results. New World Development gained 0.25 to 10.40 after its six months to December results. Cheung Kong Infrastructure rose 0.20 to 13.25 after its 2000 results. Tang said sentiment turned cautious ahead of the release of U.S. February PPI data, adding the data may serve as an indication to further interest rate cuts. Among bank stocks, HSBC fell 0.50 to 94.50, Hang Seng Bank shed 1.50 to 88.00 and Bank of East Asia shed 0.10 to 17.80. Dao Heng Bank was down 0.70 at 36.30 ahead of its interim results. Telecom stocks were weaker this morning after NASDAQ failed to sustain a rebound, dealers said. Hutchison Whampoa fell 1.50 to 84.50 and Pacific Century CyberWorks shed 0.025 to 3.95. China Mobile lost 0.20 to 37.70 and SmarTone fell 0.15 to 10.30. On the GEM board, tom.com fell 0.05 to 2.075, while the company said it has formed a partnership with Taiwan-based ChinaTimes.com to set up an overseas holding company China-Plus to develop integrated interactive marketing business in Greater China. Sunevision was unchanged at 2.275, while hongkong.com fell 0.01 to 0.355. Among China plays, Huaneng Power rose 0.50 to 4.20 after the company said it will acquire power plants from the parent for 12 bln yuan. China Resources gained 0.05 to 10.40, while Shanghai Industrial fell 0.30 to 12.65.

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