Hong Kong shares close higher on technical rebound led by telecom stocks

HONG KONG (AFX-ASIA) - Share prices closed higher across-the-board on a technical rebound, with sentiment lifted by gains on Wall Street overnight and a strong performance on most regional bourses, dealers said.	    The gains were led by telecom stocks, particularly China Mobile, Hutchison Whampoa and China Unicom, after their sharp falls yesterday, they said.	    H shares and red chips were also in focus following generally positive results during the earnings season, they added.	    The Hang Seng index closed up 366.35 points or 2.91 pct at 12,972.80, off a low of 12,761.41 and a high of 12,988.15, on turnover of 9.73 bln hkd.	    The Hang Seng April contract last traded at 12,936 points.	    The Hang Seng China Enterprises index was up 32.28 points at 457.79 and the CAC index up 61.47 points at 1,135.87.	    TraHK was up 0.30 hkd at 13.10 on volume of 2.82 mln units.	    The GEM index was up 9.59 points at 266.31 on turnover of 282.99 mln hkd.	    Howard Gorges, director of South China Securities, said: "The Hang Seng Index bounced back on the strong performance on Wall Street and the overseas market."	    He said the local bourse tends to move in synch with the overseas markets amid a lack of fresh leads.	    "The local market is moving on a day-to-day basis. It is not easy to predict," he said.	    He said the resistance level for the Hang Seng Index will be at around the 13,000 point mark in the immediate term.	    Telecom shares took the lead today, following the overnight rally on NASDAQ, with investors generally ignoring Cisco's third-quarter profit warning, dealers added.	    "The Hang Seng Index was oversold yesterday. The rally today was just a technical rebound, with the key indices recovering most of their losses yesterday," Louis Tse, executive director with Standard Capital Brokerage said.	    China Mobile gained 2.50 hkd or 7.31 pct to 36.70 hkd, China Unicom added 0.85 or 8.94 pct to 10.35.	    PCCW rose 0.075 to 2.675 hkd, Hutchison Whampoa gained 4.00 to 85.25 and SmarTone added 0.15 to 9.20.	    H shares and red chips moved in tandem with the general market amid a positive outlook over the earnings prospects of these China-related companies, dealers said.	    Legend Holdings was up 0.30 at 5.55, China Merchants rose 0.10 to 5.45 and Shanghai Industrial gained 0.30 to 12.25 ahead of its results announcement this afternoon.	    China Eastern rose 0.05 to 1.02, Luoyang Glass added 0.14 to 1.44 and Jiangsu Expressway was up 0.09 at 1.71.	    Tracking the performance on NASDAQ overnight, technology counters also rose in on the local GEM board, they said. 	    Tom.com was up 0.075 at 2.075 and Hongkong.com was 0.025 higher at 0.32.	    Sunevision gained 0.10 to 2.00 and Phoenix TV was up 0.07 at 1.42.	    Profit-taking was evident in some second-line banks following their sharp rises yesterday, dealers said.	    Among them, LCH Bank fell 0.20 to 9.75, International Bank of Asia shed 0.025 to 2.025.	    However, HKCB Bank and CITIC Ka Wah Bank both gained after the two banks said they were not in negotiations for any mergers or acquisitions, dealers said.	    HKCB Bank gained 0.15 to 3.175, CITIC Ka Wah Bank rose 0.05 to 2.40.	    HKCB Bank was expected to be acquired by CITIC Ka Wah Bank following DBS' acquisition of Dao Heng Bank last week, dealers said.	    HSBC gained 1.25 at 94.00, Bank of East Asia was 0.10 firmer at 17.00, Dao Heng Bank was up 0.50 at 56.50 and Hang Seng Bank was 1.50 higher at 93.50.	    Among property counters, Cheung Kong was up 1.75 at 82.50, Sun Hung Kai Properties was 2.00 higher at 70.25 and New World Development gained 0.40 to 9.20. 

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