Hong Kong shares close morning lower on Wall Street/profit-taking

HONG KONG (AFX-ASIA) - Share prices closed the morning lower on profit-taking following the overnight losses on Wall Street, with the downside limited on expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve will cut interest rates again in mid May, dealers said.	    They said buying in H-shares mainly rotated towards petrochemical stocks after PetroChina reported satisfactory results and as investors remained upbeat about China's economic fundamentals.	    The Hang Seng index closed the morning down 131.53 points at 13,179.97, off a low of 13,157.40 and a high of 13,250.89, on turnover of 3.54 bln hkd.	    The Hang Seng April contract last traded at 13,219 points.	    The Hang Seng China Enterprises index was up 1.42 points at 457.83, while  the CAC index was down 8.97 points at 1,143.85.	    TraHK was down 0.10 hkd at 13.40 on volume of 1.93 mln units.	    The GEM index was down 1.53 points at 266.17 on turnover of 183.65 mln hkd.	    Louise Tse, executive director with Standard Capital, said the falls this morning were expected to mirror Wall Street's losses overnight.	    "Investors are cautious ahead of some U.S. economic data due in the next couple of days and next week... trade has turned slow," Tse said, referring the the upcoming release of U.S. durable goods data, jobless claims and consumer sentiment indicators.	    Taking cue from NASDAQ's fall, telecom stocks suffered further losses this morning, dealers said.	    China Mobile fell 0.80 to 36.70 hkd on volume of 6.51 mln shares. 	    Dealers said the newly announced adjustments in interconnection charges exerted a limited impact on China Mobile's share price.	    Hutchison Whampoa shed 1.25 to 85.00 and Pacific Century CyberWorks lost 0.025 to 2.675.	    Tse said expectations of further interest rate cuts in the U.S. continued to lend support to the market.	    "With the interest rate reduction hopes, I expect some technical support will be seen around 13,000 points for the Hang Seng Index. The market is likely to move between 13,000 and 13,600 points," Tse said.	    In the banking sector, HSBC rose 0.25 to 97.25, while Hang Seng Bank fell 0.50 to 94.75. 	    Bank of East Asia gained 0.15 to 17.55 and Dao Heng Bank added 0.25 to 56.50.	    Pacific Century Insurance rose 0.15 to 2.65 ahead of the book close for its bonus issue.	    Among property stocks, Cheung Kong fell 0.50 to 86.50, Sun Hung Kai Properties shed 0.75 to 71.25 and Henderson Land lost 0.30 to 36.40.	    New World Development rose 0.35 to 10.20 on speculation the company will soon strike a deal to dispose of Regent Hotel.	    Li & Fung shed 0.80 to 13.80.	    Dealers said the H-share sector was flat, but petrochemical stocks were higher after PetroChina reported higher-than-expected results.	    PetroChina rose 0.03 to 1.54.	    Beijing Yanhua gained 0.07 to 1.14, Shanghai Petrochemical aded 0.02 to 1.08 and Yizheng Chemical rose 0.01 to 1.61.	    Qingling Motors rose 0.05 to 1.67 after 2000 results.	    On the GEM board, tom.com fell 0.05 to 2.00 and Sunevision shed 0.03 to 1.91. 

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