Hong Kong shares close morning lower led by PCCW; off lows on property rebound

HONG KONG (AFX-ASIA) - Share prices closed the morning lower, but off early lows as the property sector rebounded on short covering ahead of today's expiry of the March futures contract, which partially offset the impact of Wall Street's heavy falls, dealers said.    Telecom stocks were affected by the sharp declines on NASDAQ overnight, with Pacific Century CyberWorks in particular falling following its lower-than-expected 2000 results yesterday after it assigned 667 mln usd in provisions for unrealised losses on portfolio investments,they said.    H-shares outperformed the broader market on follow-though buying amid optimism towards the earnings outlook of these state-owned enterprises in China, dealers said.    The Hang Seng index closed the morning down 167.84 points at 12,683.57, off an early low of 12,523.61 and off an early high of 12,768.67, on turnover of 4.56 bln hkd.     The Hang Seng March contract last traded at 12,680 points.    The Hang Seng China Enterprises index was up 7.60 points at 400.32 while the CAC index was down 1.13 points at 1,030.66.    TraHK was down 0.15 at 12.90 hkd on volume of 4.53 mln units.    The GEM index was down 3.21 points at 255.06 on turnover of 33.44 mln hkd.    Vincent Tsoi, dealing director with Polaris Securities, said the late trade buying in some property stocks were very technical.    "Heavyweight Cheung Kong was the target for traders to push the index higher ahead of futures contract expiry," Tsoi said.    Cheung Kong rose 0.50 to 80.00, Sun Hung Kai Properties gained 0.25 to 73.75 and Henderson Land added 0.10 to 39.60, while New World Development fell 0.25 to 9.95.    Hysan Development rose 0.30 to 12.00, while Amoy Properties shed 0.05 to 8.60.    Cheung Kong Infrastructure fell 0.30 to 12.75 after the company confirmed it has failed to obtain approval from the South Australian State Parliament for a deal in which it would lend 26.5 mln aud to an Australian consortium to fund a railway project there.    "The market is still looking for the bottom. It is hard to say where the bottom is unless U.S. equity markets turn stable," Tsoi said.    Vice president of Bank of China International Securities Johnson Hui said he expects the market will test 12,000 points or even lowerat 11,800 points.    The telecom sector was hit by a profit warning issued by Nortel Network and Palm, dealers 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 acquisition of Cable & Wireless HKT last year.    PCCW fell 0.425 hkd or 12.23 pct to 3.05 on volume of 121.74 mln shares.    China Mobile lost 0.50 to 34.60 and China Unicom shed 0.10 to 8.45 on concerns about possible price competition in China's mobile phone market.    Hutchison Whampoa lost 0.75 to 80.50 and SmarTone fell 0.10 to 9.90.    Tsoi of Polaries Securities said it is possible traders will pick up HSBC this afternoon to push the index higher to profit in the futures market.    HSBC fell 1.00 to 91.00 and Hang Seng Bank shed 1.50 to 89.50.    Bank of East Asia lost 0.20 to 17.65 after company chairman David Li said he does not rule out the possibility of imposing charges on the bank's depositors later this year.    Dealers said follow-through buying continued to boost H-shares on optimism over their profit outlook.    While the broader market suffered volatility, some investors continued to move their funds to the H-share sector, they said.    Chongqing Iron rose 0.04 to 0.64 and Anhui Expressway gained 0.06 to 0.96.    Shenyang Public Utility added 0.07 to 1.53 and Huaneng Power grew 0.10 to 3.90.    Sinopec rose 0.04 to 1.19 and PetroChina added 0.01 to 1.37.    On the GEM board, tom.com fell 0.07 to 1.91 and Sunevision shed 0.075 to 2.075. 

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