Hong Kong stocks on Tuesday ended flat in low volume, with gains in energy shares offset by losses in the financial sector in choppy trading. "Energy and commodities are safer bets in this directionless market," said Jackson Wong, vice president of Tanrich Securities. "Especially with Japan's situation still unresolved."
Analysts said lacklustre volumes would likely continue until late this week with the release of key US economic data likely to drive action at the start of April. The benchmark Hang Seng Index reversed midday gains, edging down 0.03 percent to finish at 23,060.36, with trading volumes three-quarters of the 30-day average. The index is 0.1 percent higher on the year so far.
The Shanghai Composite Index closed down 0.9 percent to 2,958.1 points on Tuesday, after rising 0.2 percent on Monday. Property and financial stocks weighed on the Hong Kong benchmark on Tuesday. Among the losers were Bank of China, down 0.5 percent, and HSBC and ICBC , both off 0.6 percent.
But for the second consecutive day, the Shanghai-traded "A shares" of financial counters generally traded more positively than counterpart "H shares in Hong Kong. ICBC in Shanghai, for example, gained 0.2 percent. Gains in CNOOC Ltd , China Shenhua Energy Co Ltd and PetroChina Co Ltd supported the index, as an anticipated increase in Japanese demand for more traditional energy was seen as favourable for some companies in the industry.
Meanwhile, large-scale reconstruction in the aftermath of the Japan earthquake - expected to feed exports - also drove steel makers to gains in China where stocks largely fell on Tuesday. Inner Mongolia Baotou Steel Union, the most active shares on the Shanghai market, rose 5 percent. Hebei Iron and Steel , among the most active issue on the Shenzhen market, finished up 1.8 percent.
The Shanghai benchmark was weighed down by investors selling small-cap shares while the index failed to breach the psychological 3,000 resistance level. The small shares sub-index of Shanghai and Shenzhen shares dropped 1.7 percent. Small-cap shares, including Jiangsu Wuzhong Industrial, the biggest loser on the Shanghai market, tumbled by its 10 percent daily limit, while JiangSu Jin Tong Ling Fans also slumped that much.
Analysts said China shares were boosted by a strong earnings season, but worries over further tightening steps to fight inflation made investors cautious. On Tuesday, the official China Securities Journal said that 1,039 Chinese listed companies had reported a total of 886 billion yuan net profit for 2010, a 36.9 percent rise over 2009.
"We don't think the index has much room to fall sharply with a strong blue chips rise," said Wang Aochao, an analyst at UOB Kay Hian in Shanghai. "But caution over further tightening steps to fight inflation may keep the index in a range trade." Some analysts expect the index will rise to around 3,100 in the second quarter, but serious inflation and uncertainty over further policy tightening might cap a rise. Shares of China's biggest listed brokerage Citic Securities rose 1.7 percent on Tuesday after the firm unveiled its roughly $2.7 billion Hong Kong IPO plan.