HK, Shanghai shares rise; debutant Greens Holdings up

Fri Nov 6, 2009 5:41am GMT
 
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 * Shares lifted by U.S. data
 * Steel, metal issues lead China market to 3-month high
 (Updates to midday)
 By Jun Ebias and Claire Zhang
 HONG KONG/SHANGHAI, Nov 6 (Reuters) - Hong Kong shares
climbed on Friday, spurred by gains on Wall Street and
encouraging U.S. data, while China rose to a fresh three-month
high as steel and metal shares firmed.
 The benchmark Hang Seng Index .HSI rose 1.68 percent or
361.92 points to 21,841.00 at midday, recovering from a 0.63
percent loss in the previous session.
 Turnover was HK$37.01 billion ($4.8 billion), up from midday
Thursday's HK$35.71 billion. But it was still below last
Thursday's HK$47.68 billion as most were waiting for the U.S.
jobless data due later in the day.
 "We have a pretty good sentiment today that we might be able
to test the 22,000 level," said Jackson Wong, investment manager
at Tanrich Securities. "Last night we had some surprisingly
strong data from the U.S. that propelled the Dow."
 Greens Holdings (1318.HK) narrowed gains and was up 19
percent on its trading debut, the third firm to rise on its first
trading day this week after Chinese developer Evergrande Real
Estate (3333.HK) and fashion retailer Trinity (0891.HK).
 Evegrande fell nearly 6 percent and Trinity shed 5.17 percent
as investors pocketed recent gains.
 Manulife Financial Corp (MFC.TO) (0945.HK) lost 3.01 percent.
North America's largest life insurer said it had a loss of C$172
million ($162 million) in the third quarter. [ID:nN049268]
 Bank of East Asia (0023.HK) was up almost 4 percent. The
lender rose 3.33 percent on Thursday after a newspaper report
that Guoco Group (0053.HK) raised its stake in the bank to 8.01
percent from 7.99 percent. [ID:nHKG80610]
 The China Enterprise Index .HSCE of top locally listed
mainland Chinese stocks rose 1.72 percent to 13,024.91.
 China Unicom (0762.HK) gained for a third day, rising 3.45
percent. The stock has risen 6.2 percent in the last two
sessions, after the Chinese mobile carrier said on Tuesday that
it had signed up more than 1 million 3G subscribers.
 CNOOC (0883.HK) was up 2.87 percent. The oil firm has agreed
to buy a minority stake in four prospects in the Gulf of Mexico
from Norway's Statoil (STL.OL). [ID:nL5510922]
 Chinese oil producer PetroChina (0857.HK) rose 2.27 percent.
The state-owned firm's north China unit aims to boost its storage
capacity in the next three years to ensure energy security.
[ID:nPEK151896]
 China Shenhua Energy (1088.HK) advanced 2.92 percent. Parent
Shenhua Group, China's largest coal miner, and Dow Chemical
(DOW.N) will reportedly move ahead with their planned $10 billion
coal-to-chemical project in Shaanxi province. [ID:nPEK157625]
 Local developers rose after a sell-off in recent sessions on
concerns Hong Kong may adopt measures to cool property prices,
crimping profits. Sino Land (0083.HK) was up 2.96 percent.
 SHANGHAI AT THREE-MONTH HIGHS
 The Shanghai Composite Index .SSEC ended the morning at
3,174.403, heading for its best weekly rise in five months with a
gain of nearly 6 percent so far this week.
 Gaining Shanghai A shares outnumbered losers by 593 to 266,
while turnover picked up to 94 billion yuan ($13.77 billion) from
Thursday morning's 81 billion yuan.
 Analysts said the index's strong performance this week was
driven by expectations for robust October economic data, due for
release next week, and solid earnings at listed firms, but the
index could be vulnerable to a short-term pull-back on
profit-taking after the rise.
 Unexpectedly strong earnings at listed Chinese companies have
spurred analysts to raise their profit forecasts, creating room
for an about 15 percent rise in the index over the next three
months. [ID:nSHA122035]
 "Monetary policy is expected to remain stable for the moment
and underlying market sentiment is strong," said Guo Yanlin, head
of research department at Shanghai Securities. She expected the
index to move between the psychologically key chart points of
3,000 and 3,200 in the coming weeks.
 Guo said expectations of renewed yuan appreciation against
the dollar would boost firms with substantial local-currency
assets, such as banks and property developers. [ID:nSHA214323]
 China Vanke (000002.SZ), the country's second-largest
property developer, gained 1.02 percent to 11.89 yuan after
saying on Friday that its property sales in October soared 95
percent from a year earlier to 6.5 billion yuan ($952.2 million).
[ID:nSHA127237]
 Steel and metal shares were firmer, with Baoshan Iron and
Steel (600019.SS) climbing 2.1 percent to 7.28 yuan while Jiangxi
Copper (600362.SS) advanced 2.95 percent to 41.13 yuan.
 Two new shares made firm debuts in Shenzhen, with Jiangsu
Yanghe Brewery Joint-Stock 002304.SZ gaining 50 percent from
its IPO price to 90.12 yuan while Wuhan Langold Real Estate
002305.SZ jumped 80 percent to 22.20 yuan.
 Shares of firms based on China's southern island of Hainan
outperformed after the official China Securities Journal reported
that a plan to develop international tourism on the island may
soon get approval, while analysts and media reports said several
mutual funds had recently bought such shares actively.
 Hainan Expressway (000886.SZ) jumped its 10 percent daily
limit to 5.48 yuan while Hainan Yedao (600238.SS) climbed 6.54
percent to 16.93 yuan.
 (Editing by Jonathan Hopfner)





 

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