Hong Kong stocks rebounded 1.4 percent to hit a record on Thursday, their seventh in the last eight sessions, with broker upgrades helping to lift large-caps China Mobile and Ping An Insurance to all-time highs.
The debut by New World Department Store China Ltd, a spin-off from conglomerate New World Development, was slightly off expectations, with some saying there were plenty of other recently listed consumer plays to choose from.
Among the top gainers was Vongroup Ltd, which surged after saying Germany's Deutsche Bank would take a 4.9 percent stake in the mainland non-bank financial services firm. Vongroup Ltd ended the HK$1.47, up nearly 10 percent. China Water Affairs Group Ltd shot up as much as 46 percent following a subsidiary sale, enabling it to focus on its core water supply and waste treatment businesses.
China Water ended the at HK$5.74, up almost 26 percent. The benchmark Hang Seng Index had risen 316.30 points to 22,923.32 by lunch, hitting an intrude high of 22,932.17.
Mainboard turnover was HK$51 billion (US $6.5 billion), down from Wednesday HK$60 billion. The China Enterprises Index of mainland companies listed in Hong Kong climbed 1.3 percent, or 163.1 points, to 13,166.35.
It hit a fresh record at 13,251.37. "The rebound is beyond expectations," said Steve Cheng, associate director at Shyness Wang. "We don't have to worry about a major correction before we get to 23,000," he said, but added that investors would want to keep an eye on the yen, which rallied on Wednesday.
The high-risk credit woes in the US escalated this week, triggering some unwinding of carry trades, in which the yen and other low yielding currencies are sold to finance purchases of higher-return assets such as equities.
Citicorp upgraded shares in the world's largest mobile phone operator to buy from hold on its dominant industry position and set a new price target at HK$115 per shares.
Ping An also set a new high before settling at HK$60.70, a 3.1 percent advance. Citicorp raised Ping A's target price to HK$68.50 from HK$58.85 and upped the company's 2007 earnings forecast by 46.2 percent to reflect year-to-date mark-to-market investment gains and strong banking and securities income growth.
Mobile phone chipset designer Solomon Sestet (International) Ltd plunged 13.4 percent to HK$0.97, having reached an all-time low after warning its first-half results would lag expectations. New World Department Store settled at HK$6.27, the bottom of the range for an 8 percent gain from its HK$5.80 issuing price. It rose as high as much as 18 percent.
The grey market saw advances above 20 percent, brokers said. But another market debut, safety systems provider China Automation Group Ltd, performed well, having traded between HK$2.50 and HK$3.02 for a 63 to 97 percent gain above its HK$1.53 offering price. It ended the at HK$2.7, up 76.5 percent.
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