Hong Kong shares close higher on Wall Street; strong U.S. economic data

HONG KONG (AFX-ASIA) - Share prices closed slightly higher on the back of gains in Wall Street last night, dealers said.	    U.S. stockmarkets rose in the wake of strong U.S. March new home sales data, which increased hopes the current economic downturn will not be prolonged, dealers said.	    The Hang Seng Index closed up 43.56 points at 13,293.11, off an early high  of 13,408.70 and a low of 13,237.18, on turnover of 7.61 bln hkd.	    The Hang Seng April contract last traded at 13,304 points.	    The Hang Seng China Enterprises index closed up 0.69 points at 459.48 and the CAC index up 21.15 points to 1,176.15.	    TraHK closed up 0.06 hkd at 13.35 on volume of 6.32 mln units.	    The GEM index closed down 0.53 points at 263.79 on turnover of 136.67 mln hkd. 	    Eugene Law, an analyst with Shenyin Wanguo Securities, said today's rise followed on from four sessions of profit taking and was triggered by Wall Street's rebound last night.	    Trade was, however, fairly light ahead of the four-day long weekend, which kicks off after tomorrow's close.	    "The market was generally quiet ahead of the long weekend," he said.	    Law said red chips outperformed the boarder market on expectations they will be allowed to issue China Depository Shares (CDS) in the distant future.	    The CDS hopes were sparked by a Hong Kong Economic Journal report saying the China Securities Regulatory Commission has not ruled out the possibility of announcing the CDS issuance rules in June.	    Of note among red chips, China Merchants closed up 0.10 at 5.55, CITIC Pacific 0.05 higher at 21.95 and Shanghai Industrial 0.05 better at 12.65.	    China Travel gained 0.06 to 1.15, Founder added 0.045 to 2.025 and Legend rose 0.25 to 6.35.	    Of the H-shares, PetroChina fell 0.02 to 1.59, Sinopec was unchanged at 1.36, Jiangsu Expressway lost 0.05 to 1.60 and Chongqing Iron gained 0.02 to 1.09.	    First Tractor shed 0.08 to 0.88 following the release of its 2000 results.	    Within the financial sector, HSBC closed unchanged at 97.75, Bank of East Asia gained 0.05 to 17.55 and Dao Heng Bank added 0.75 to 57.75. 	    Outside of the China plays, Cheung Kong closed unchanged at 86.25, New World Development firmed 0.05 to 9.80 and Henderson Land finished up 0.30 at 35.80.	    Dealers said Hutchison Whampoa was weak amid on-going concerns surrounding the outlook for global 3G mobile phone operators. 	    Hutchison Whampoa ended down 0.50 to 83.75 on trade of 6.50 mln shares.	    Elsewhere, Pacific Century CyberWorks shed 0.05 to 2.675, SmarTone gained 0.20 to 9.00 and Sunday added 0.03 to 0.51.	    On the GEM board, tom.com closed up 0.02 at 1.99 and Sunevision up 0.01 at 1.99.	    Tingyi fell 0.22 to 1.17 following the release of worse-than-expected results and Next Media gained 0.10 to 0.32 amid speculation majority shareholder Jimmy Lai will sell his stake in the company. 

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