Hong Kong stocks rose to a five-week closing high on Thursday after an upbeat US jobs indicator calmed worries sparked by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's warning that the US economy may slip into recession.
Traders said Hong Kong got an extra boost from an afternoon rally in China's main Shanghai index, which bounced back 2.9 percent after hitting 11-month lows earlier in the week. "Overall the sentiment is not bad for the time being," said Louis Wong, research director at Phillip Securities.
"The banks and insurers are benefiting because the market believes that the worst is over. That may not be true, but that's the consensus. The first level of resistance is 25,000 points."
The benchmark Hang Seng Index opened flat, but rose to close up 1.64 percent at 24,264.63 points, with financial and property stocks such as Ping An and Chinese Overseas Land & Investment Ltd among the top gainers.
Blue chips ended the holiday-shortened week up 4.2 percent following the index's worst first quarter in six years. Hong Kong's market is closed for a public holiday on Friday.
Mainboard turnover was roughly HK$91.50 billion ($11.75 billion), down from HK$114.7 billion on Wednesday. The China Enterprises Index of Hong Kong-listed mainland companies, or H shares, rose 2.58 percent to 13,137.57. Bernanke conceded for the first time on Wednesday that the US economy may slip into recession. Yet a surprisingly optimistic indicator for US jobs raised hopes of a milder US economy recession than feared.
The US private sector added 8,000 jobs in March, according to a report on Wednesday by ADP Employer Services, confounding economist expectations. China's No 2 life-insurer Ping An Insurance Co Ltd surged 7.4 percent to HK$63.05 after it finalised a deal with Belgian-Dutch financial group Fortis to set up a global asset management partnership. Ping An's larger competitor, China Life climbed 4.23 percent HK$29.60.
Asia's top developer by market value, Sun Hung Kai Properties, climbed nearly 2.9 percent to HK$133.20 as investors looked for bargains after recent lows. Sino Land soared 3.85 percent to HK$18.90 and China Overseas Land gained 4.05 to HK$15.40.
Bank of Communications gained 2 percent to HK$10.06 and China Construction Bank climbed 3.33 percent to HK$6.52. Energy plays also gained on a recent surge in oil prices, with state oil firm CNOOC up 2.7 percent at HK$12.22 and PetroChina rising 2.35 percent to HK$10.44. Container vessel owner China Shipping soared 9.3 percent to HK$3.53 after it reported a nearly four-fold jump in annual net earnings to 3.2 billion yuan ($456 million).
Comments
Comments are closed.