AGL 39.52 Decreased By ▼ -0.48 (-1.2%)
AIRLINK 130.00 Increased By ▲ 0.94 (0.73%)
BOP 6.83 Increased By ▲ 0.08 (1.19%)
CNERGY 4.69 Increased By ▲ 0.20 (4.45%)
DCL 8.54 Decreased By ▼ -0.01 (-0.12%)
DFML 41.05 Increased By ▲ 0.23 (0.56%)
DGKC 81.50 Increased By ▲ 0.54 (0.67%)
FCCL 32.72 Decreased By ▼ -0.05 (-0.15%)
FFBL 74.35 Decreased By ▼ -0.08 (-0.11%)
FFL 11.80 Increased By ▲ 0.06 (0.51%)
HUBC 109.65 Increased By ▲ 0.07 (0.06%)
HUMNL 14.30 Increased By ▲ 0.55 (4%)
KEL 5.28 Decreased By ▼ -0.03 (-0.56%)
KOSM 7.64 Decreased By ▼ -0.08 (-1.04%)
MLCF 38.65 Increased By ▲ 0.05 (0.13%)
NBP 65.20 Increased By ▲ 1.69 (2.66%)
OGDC 193.70 Decreased By ▼ -0.99 (-0.51%)
PAEL 25.80 Increased By ▲ 0.09 (0.35%)
PIBTL 7.35 Decreased By ▼ -0.04 (-0.54%)
PPL 154.10 Decreased By ▼ -1.35 (-0.87%)
PRL 25.60 Decreased By ▼ -0.19 (-0.74%)
PTC 17.46 Decreased By ▼ -0.04 (-0.23%)
SEARL 80.25 Increased By ▲ 1.60 (2.03%)
TELE 7.80 Decreased By ▼ -0.06 (-0.76%)
TOMCL 33.66 Decreased By ▼ -0.07 (-0.21%)
TPLP 8.40 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
TREET 16.25 Decreased By ▼ -0.02 (-0.12%)
TRG 57.49 Decreased By ▼ -0.73 (-1.25%)
UNITY 27.55 Increased By ▲ 0.06 (0.22%)
WTL 1.39 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
BR100 10,618 Increased By 172.7 (1.65%)
BR30 31,212 Increased By 22.6 (0.07%)
KSE100 99,002 Increased By 1204.1 (1.23%)
KSE30 30,948 Increased By 466.8 (1.53%)

Hong Kong stocks fell 0.7 percent on Wednesday, halting five straight sessions of record closes, as investors sold China Mobile after a string of fresh six-year peaks and more talk of a share placement.
China Mobile's slide subdued gains by PCCW Ltd and property developers, which extended their momentum following a rate cut by local lenders this week. The benchmark Hang Seng index fell 128.07 points to end at 18,811.24 on turnover of HK$49.0 billion (US $6.3 billion) compared to Tuesday's HK$51.7 billion.
"It's a mixture of healthy profit-taking and the US election results," said Andrew Clarke, trader at Societe Generale Securities. Democrats earlier won enough seats to take the US House of Representatives in the US mid-term elections held on Tuesday, seen as a negative for stocks as investors bet on a less business-friendly environment in Washington.
China Mobile led the market lower after sliding 2.8 percent to HK$65.20. Shares in the world's largest cellular operator were ripe for profit-taking following gains of nearly 8 percent since it drove the market to its latest all-time high for the first time more than a week ago.
"There's rotational sentiment between people taking profits in China Mobile and putting their money in properties," Clarke said. Properties have trailed the market but they got a shot in the arm this week when the local unit of global lender HSBC led a round of rate cuts by local banks.
Laggard-chasing has been the dominant theme recently, in a typical year-end manoeuvre to drive up underperformers. Sun Hung Kai Properties tiptoed past its May highs to touch nine-year peaks before settling up 0.4 percent at HK$91.7. Henderson Land jumped 1.3 percent to HK$46.9.
China Merchants Holdings (International) Co Ltd, also seen as a laggard, surged 5.8 percent to HK$23.75. China Merchants' shares got a boost after Merrill Lynch said in a research note that the port investors' stakes in some of the most important ports in the mainland had long-term asset appreciation potential of which the market was not taking enough notice.
PCCW Ltd, Hong Kong's main fixed-line carrier, soared nearly 7 percent to HK$5.12 amid reports that Spain's Telefonica would buy a stake in the firm. Telefonica holds 5 percent of Beijing-run China Netcom, whose parent is PCCW's second-largest shareholder with a 20 percent stake. Netcom rose 3.7 percent to HK$15.18.
Aluminium Corp of China Ltd (Chalco), which has trailed the broad market, shot up 5.2 percent to HK$5.71 in heavy trade. Investors believed the worst was over for the world's number-two alumina producer, which reduced spot prices of its main product by nearly 19 percent last week.

Copyright Reuters, 2006

Comments

Comments are closed.