HK Shares End Lower On Lingering Europe Credit Woes
Hong Kong stocks ended lower Monday as concerns over credit woes in Europe continued to weigh on equity markets.
The blue-chip Hang Seng Index fell 114.19 points, or 0.6%, to 19,550.89 after trading between 19,423.05 and 19,673.11 during the session. The Hang Seng Index extended its weakness after a 5.1% drop over the last two sessions.
Market volume totaled HK$59.63 billion, down from HK$77.47 billion Friday, as investor interest declined ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday that starts Saturday.
'Investors are likely to remain cautious amid uncertainties related to Europe's credit problems, especially as we're approaching the Lunar New Year,' said Castor Pang, a research director at Cinda International.
Hong Kong markets will be closed Feb. 15-16 for the Lunar New Year holiday.
'In the near term, the Hong Kong market will continue to be affected by global deleveraging activities on lingering concerns of sovereign debt problems in Europe and monetary tightening in China,' said Belle Liang, an analyst at Core Pacific-Yamaichi, adding 19,200 will likely provide support in the near term.
Oil majors fell on weak crude oil prices, which traders said may test US$70 a barrel in the near term due to the strength of the U.S. dollar.
Cnooc fell 1.7% to HK$11.40, and PetroChina was down 1.8% at HK$8.25.
China Resources Land fell 1% to HK$14.48 despite news the stock will be included in the Hang Seng Index on March 8. Traders said the drop was due to fund managers' concerns over the weakness of mainland developers, because of expectations of more potential headwind policies targeting speculative demand.
Lenovo bucked the market downtrend and rose 2.3% to HK$5.23 on a slew of upgrades. Goldman Sachs lifted the stock's target to HK$6.50 from HK$5.00 after Lenovo said Thursday its profit for the fiscal third quarter ended Dec. 31 was $79.5 million, compared with a net loss of $96.7 million a year earlier.
