HKshares sharply lower on Wall St; PCCW leads losses after results
HONG KONG (AFX-ASIA) - Share prices were sharply lower in early morning trade in line with declines on Wall Street overnight as telecom stocks led the losses with sentiment further dampened by an earning warning issued by Nortel, dealers said. Among telecom stocks, Pacific Century CyberWorks fell sharply on its lower than expected 2000 results after it assigned 667 mln usd in provisions for unrealised losses on portfolio investments. At 10:47 am, the Hang Seng index was down 252.75 points at 12,598.66 on turnover of 1.87 bln hkd. The Hang Seng March contract last traded at 12,650 points. The Hang Seng China Enterprises index was up 7.07 points at 399.79, while the CAC index was down 3.13 points at 1,028.66. TraHK was down 0.20 at 12.85 hkd on volume of 1.08 mln units. The GEM index was down 2.36 points at 255.91 on turnover of 10.44 mln hkd. Ben Kwong, director of KGI Securities, said telecom stocks were under greater pressure this morning on further profit warnings from their global counterparts. "U.S. shares remained unstable despite recent technical rebounds. Worries about an economic slowdown in the U.S. are still there. These external factors are expected to further affect the Hong Kong market," Kwong said. PCCW was in focus this morning after its 2000 results. Apart from the 667 mln usd in provisions, the company also wrote off 22 bln usd in goodwill from the ancquisition of Cable & Wireless HKT last year. "Selling on PCCW is very likely to continue. Investors are not happy with its results. They have also been uneasy with the uncertain outlook of the company's business development," Kwong said. PCCW fell 0.40 hkd or 11.51 pct to 3.075 hkd on volume of 54.62 mln shares. China Mobile lost 0.70 to 34.40 and China Unicom shed 0.30 to 8.25 on concerns about possible price competition in China's mobile phone market. Hutchison Whampoa lost 1.25 to 80.00 and SmarTone fell 0.05 to 9.95.
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