Hong Kong shares close higher led by banks, properties after U.S. rate cut

HONG KONG (AFX-ASIA) - Share prices closed sharply higher led by  financials and property stocks following the surprise 50 basis point interest  rate reduction by the U.S. Federal Open Market Committee, dealers said.Utilities stocks came under pressure as institutional investors switched  back into the interest rate sensitive sector, and H-shares faced  profit-taking after their recent gains, they said.      The Hang Seng index closed up 576.15 points at 13,548.95, off a low of 13, 425.56 and a high of 13,621.80 on turnover of 17.75 bln hkd.      The Hang Seng April contract last traded at 13,545 points.      The Hang Seng China Enterprises index was down 5.49 points at 452.30 and  the CAC index was up 7.94 points at 718.87.      TraHK was up 0.60 hkd at 13.70 on volume of 17.91 mln units.      The GEM index was up 5.16 points at 271.47 on turnover of 386.5 mln hkd.      Josephine Hui, associate director of Celestial Asia Securities, said  there was substantial buying interest in financials and property stocks on  expectations that the Hong Kong Association of Banks will announce a similar  interest rate cut at its weekly meeting tomorrow.      "However, this uptrend may easily run out of steam because of the  unstable performance on Wall Street," she said.      "The U.S. is cutting interest rates aggressively and this may imply a  very poor economy ... investors will be cautious in the medium term," she  said.      The financial sub-index finished up 837.65 points at 20,954.46 and the  property sub-index was 1,008.69 points higher at 17,194.07.      HSBC rose 4.50 to 98.50 hkd and Hang Seng Bank gained 1.75 to 95.25.      Bank of East Asia added 0.80 to 17.80.       Cheung Kong gained 5.00 to 87.50, Sun Hung Kai Properties rose 4.75 to 75. 00, Henderson Land rose 2.20 to 37.40 and New World Development gained 0.75 to 9.95.      Sino Land rose 0.325 to 3.525 and Wharf gained 1.20 to 18.85.      Bucking the market trend were utilities, as institutional investors  regained their interest in financials and property stocks after the Federal  Reserve's interest rate cut, Hui said.      "Utilities have provided a safe haven for investors in the past two  months. It was a normal decline when investors moved back to interest rate  sensitive stocks," she said.      The utilities sub-index was down 763.55 points at 20,202.94.      CLP was down 1.50 at 31.40, Hong Kong & China Gas was 0.25 lower at 9.15,  and Hongkong Electric shed 0.90 to 26.80.      Within the telecom sector, China Mobile closed up 2.20 at 38.90, China  Unicom rose 0.80 to 11.15, PCCW gained 0.075 to 2.75 and Hutchison was up 4. 50 at 89.75.      On the GEM board, tom.com rose 0.025 to 2.10 and Sunevision was down 0.02  at 1.98.        Dealers said profit-taking was growing in H-shares after their recent  gains, but they should remain strong in the short term because of their  positive earnings prospects.       Among those stocks, Shenyang Public Utility dropped 0.125 to 1.95,  Dongfang Electric lost 0.13 to 1.19, Shanghai Petrochemical fell 0.04 to 1. 05, and Jilin Chemical was down 0.04 at 0.74.      Chengdu PTIC Telecommunications finished down 0.09 at 1.41 after its 2000  results.      CNOOC was down 0.30 at 7.20 on concerns over crude oil prices and their  possible impact on the company's earnings.      New listing Luen Tai Group last traded at 1.02 hkd compared with its  issue price of 1.00 hkd.			

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