Hong Kong shares higher on Wall Street rise/further U.S. rate cut hopes

HONG KONG (AFX-ASIA) - Share prices closed higher following Wall Street's overnight gains, with optimism for further U.S. interest rate cuts renewed after the release of lower-than-expected U.S. April inflation data, dealers 

said.

	    They said interest rate-sensitive financials and properties posted solid gains, while high-tech and telecom stocks were driven higher by NASDAQ's upturn  last night. 

	    The Hang Seng Index closed up 301.92 points at 13,637.87, off an early low of 13,550.78 and an early high of 13,713.06, on turnover of 10.07 bln hkd.

	    The Hang Seng May contract last traded at 13,635 points.

	    The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index was down 8.27 points at 500.81, while the CAC Index was up 11.93 points at 1,245.30.

	    The Tracker Fund was up 0.25 at 13.70 and the GEM Index up 6.16 points at  261.86 on turnover of 211.23 mln hkd.

	    Sunny Chan, an analyst with KGI Securities, said the Hang Seng Index mimicked the strong performance of Wall Street, with financials and properties leading the inital gains on optimism for a further U.S. interest 

rate cut in June. 

	    "The Hang Seng Index was boosted by the rise on Wall Street last night ... financials and properties were among the strong performers," he said.

	    The financial sub-index gained 485.03 points to 20,925.30 and the property sub-index added 299.88 points to 17,705.72.

	    Cheung Kong rose 1.75 hkd to 92.50, Sun Hung Kai Properties gained 1.25 to 76.25, Henderson Land added 0.50 to 36.90 and New World Development advanced 0.20 to 10.15.

	    HSBC rose 2.75 hkd or 2.85 pct to 99.25, as investors sustained a positive reaction to its purchase of a 52.87 pct stake in China Securities Investment for 103 mln usd.

	    Hang Seng Bank gained 0.75 to 89.50, while Dao Heng Bank was unchanged at 59.00.

	    Dealers said high-tech and telecom stocks were higher on the back of gains on NASDAQ last night.

	    Hutchison Whampoa rose 1.25 to 87.25, China Mobile added 1.50 to 39.00 and China Unicom gained 0.10 to 12.05.

	    Pacific Century CyberWorks rose 0.025 to 2.72, despite uncertainty about executive chairman Richard Li's role in the company, dealers said.

	    Great Wall Technology was up 0.125 at 2.175, ASM Pacific added 0.60 to 15.30 and Computer & Tech was up 0.075 at 3.35.

	    However, Chan said profit-taking may set in when the market resumes trade,  as underlying fundamentals are not strong enough to support a further upside.

	    "A key short-term resistance will be around 13,800 points," he said.

	    On the GEM board, tom.com rose 0.125 to 2.20, hongkong.com added 0.005 to 0.38 and Sunevision gained 0.06 to 1.83.

	    Investors continued to favour several red-chips and H-shares, on perceptions that they will be less vulnerable to the U.S. economic weakness, 

but profit-taking began to pressure prices in the two sectors, after their recent gains, dealers said.    

	    CATIC Shenzhen was up 0.11 at 1.57, Nanjing Panda up 0.2 at 3.05, and Beida Jade Bird up 0.15 at 2.15, but Huaneng Power was down 0.275 at 4.825, and Beijing Datang down 0.125 at 2.825.

	    Guangzhou Investment was up 0.06 at 0.72, China Everbright up 0.03 at 0.52, but GZI Transport dropped 0.30 to 1.58 and Guangdong Brewery lost 0.01 to 0.58.

	    Chinese oil stocks were mostly weaker on concerns that OPEC countries will decide to increase oil production when they meet in June.

	    CNOOC fell 0.20 to 8.25, PetroChina lost 0.07 to 1.75, and Sinopec lost 0.02 to 1.47. 

	    New GEM listing Sinotronics last traded at 1.45 hkd, compared with its issue price of 0.90 hkd.

Related stock : (NIL)