Hong Kong blue chips steady

Hong Kong blue chips briefly tapped fresh six-year highs before easing to a flat close on Thursday, but China plays outperformed as investors chased mainland banking and commodity stocks.
The benchmark Hang Seng Index rose 10.30 points to close at 17,873.09 after hitting an intraday high of 17,948.13, just a whisker higher than a six-year peak reached last week. The China Enterprises index of mainland H-shares gained 1 percent to 7,290.71, the highest close since May 12.
Turnover was HK$34.4 billion (US$4.4 billion) slightly above Wednesday's HK$33.9 billion.
"The main focus is on China H-shares," said Tat Auyeung, fund manager at Apex Capital Management. "Interest rate is an old story; we're waiting for third-quarter earnings in the States - there's not much of a driver right now" to lift the blue chips.
Top state-owned Chinese lenders advanced as their peer, Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, attracted US$100 billion worth of institutional orders three days into its US$19 billion Hong Kong IPO. China Construction Bank Corp., the day's most active stock, jumped 2.3 percent to HK$3.59.
Bank of China raced up 1.5 percent to HK$3.41. Investors also piled into mainland commodity stocks. The renewed demand in the sector that has recently lagged the broad market comes amid expectations that China's austerity measures should begin to take their effect in reining in the country's rapid investment growth.
"People are expecting economic data for the third quarter to show China's overheated economy is slowing down," said Louis Wong, research director at Phillip Securities.
China Shenhua Energy Co. Ltd. extended Wednesday's gains, jumping 3.5 percent to HK$13.08 a day after the country's largest coal producer denied market talk of a share placement. Steel stocks were also higher. China's steel products exports through September reached 28.6 million tonnes, up 81 percent from a year ago.
Angang New Steel Co. Ltd. surged 6 percent to HK$7.26 and Maanshan Iron & Steel Co. Ltd. shot up 2.5 percent to HK$2.92. Jiangxi Copper Co. Ltd. gained 2.5 percent to HK$7.85 on rebounding copper prices. Also, China's largest copper producer will take part in an investment of $105 million to develop a copper-gold mine in Canada, a company executive said on Thursday. China National Building Material Co., which has investments in cement and other building materials, soared 9.2 percent to a closing record of HK$4.04. Sinopec Corp. rose nearly 2 percent to HK$4.90 as lower crude prices were seen as a boost to the refiner's margins.