STOCKWATCH: First Pacific sharply lower on institutional selling

HONG KONG (AFX-ASIA) - First Pacific Ltd shares were sharply lower in late morning trade on institutional selling on continued concerns about its large investment exposure to the Philippines and Indonesia, dealers said.

	    They said the removal of the stock from the Hang Seng Index effective from June also led fund managers to unload their holdings in First Pacific.

	    At 11:55 am, First Pacific was down 0.09 hkd or 5.17 pct at 1.65 on trade of 8.32 mln shares, while the Hang Seng Index was down 99.76 points at 13,538.11 on turnover of 3.57 bln hkd. 

	    Kenny Tang, associate director with Tung Tai Securities, said the selling on the stock this morning came mainly from institutional investors.

	    Merrill Lynch, Salomon Smith Barney and ING Barings were said to be selling First Pacific this morning.

	    "There is uncertainty over First Pacific's outlook due to its large exposure to the Philippines and Indonesia. Concerns about the unstable political climate in the two countries remain in place," Tang said.

	    Tang said fund managers were also reducing their holdings in response to the removal from the Hang Seng Index effective from June.

	    "While First Pacific is trading at a big discount to its net asset value of about 4 hkd, the stock is moving on a lack of momentum," Tang said.

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