STOCKWATCH: Hong Kong telecoms/high techs higher on NASDAQ rally

HONG KONG (AFX-ASIA) - Telecom and other high tech stocks were higher in early trade, led by China Mobile, after NASDAQ's rise overnight, with major GEM board listings, such as tom.com, Sunevision and hongkong.com, posting significant gains after their recent flat performances, dealers said.

	     At 10:40 the Hang Seng Index was up 179.73 points at 13,901.00 on turnover of 2.82 bln hkd, while the Hang Seng May contract last traded at 13.945 points.

	    China Mobile rose 1.10 to 40.90 hkd and China Unicom gained 0.25 to 12.10.

	    Hutchison Whampoa gained 1.25 to 87.75 and SmarTone rose 0.05 to 9.45.

	    Pacific Century CyberWorks rose 0.05 to 2.725, with little impact from a report said the company has offered no guarantee that jobs will not be cut as it switches its call centre operations to Guangzhou.

	    Legend rose 0.10 to 5.80 and Founder gained 0.075 to 2.075.

	    tom.com rose 0.10 to 2.25, Sunevision gained 0.06 to 1.82 and hongkong.com added 0.02 to 0.39.

	    "NASDAQ had been oversold. The latest rally came on hopes about earnings growth. The optimism is spreading to the local market," Alex Tang, head of research with Core Pacific-Yamaichi International, said.

	    Tang said the local high tech sector has been lagging behind the broader market for a long time.

	    "Since the beginning of this year, H shares have risen about 35 pct and red chips have gone up about 20 pct. Investors are picking up high tech stocks now in an attempt to narrow the gap."

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