Friday marked a soft ending for a tough week on the Hong Kong stock market, and investors are battening down the hatches ahead of trade for the new business week in case the downward trend isn't finished. The Hang Seng Index finished up slightly on Friday, but still lost 1,684.93 points or 5.5 percent on the week. Analysts say that the index has solid support at 28,000 points, so the market isn't likely to fall too much farther. For the day, the index picked up 23.19 points or 0.08 percent to close at 28,783.41 after trading between 28,408.53 and 29,249.95. Turnover was 133.23 billion Hong Kong dollars. Among financials, HSBC lost 0.98 percent, while China Mobile was down 0.65 percent, HKEx fell 1.55 percent, China Life was down 1.88 percent, Hang Seng Bank was up 2.23 percent, Bank of East Asia was down 1.21 percent, Standard Chartered was down 0.07 percent, Bank of Communications picked up 1.9 percent, ICBC was up 0.31 percent and China Merchants Bank was down 0.43 percent. Properties were mostly up as Cheung Kong was up 0.42 percent, while Henderson Land climbed 1.86 percent, Sun Hung Kai gained 0.41 percent, Sino Land picked up 2.96 percent, Hang Lung Properties was up 0.71 percent and Lai Sun Development was up 5.88 percent In the mining sector, Zijin Mining was down 3.05 percent and Lingbao Gold was down 5.15 percent, but Jiangxi Copper was up 0.48 percent and Hunan Nonferrous was up 1.56 percent. Wall Street provides yet another weak lead after technology and banking stocks continued to depress on Friday, fueling investors' fears that the credit crisis is far from over. The Dow ended the day below its 200 day moving average, a bearish signal, and fell more than 4 percent on the week. The Dow ended the session at 13,042.74, a loss of 223.55 points, or 1.69 percent. The Nasdaq posted the largest percentage loss, falling 68.06 points, or 2.52 percent, to end the session at 2,627.94. The Nasdaq saw its greatest three day decline since 2002, falling 6 percent. The S&P 500 also posted considerable losses, falling 21.07 points, or 1.43 percent, to finish the day at 1,453.70. The S&P also saw its worst three day period since 2002, falling 3 percent. In corporate news, Henderson Land Development Co Ltd has generated 20 billion Hong Kong dollars in revenue from the sale of 3,300 apartments so far this year. The company had expected to sell just 2,000 units in all of 2007. In September and October alone, it sold 1,300 units worth 11 billion Hong Kong dollars. Also, Singapore Airlines and Temasek Holdings have signed a final agreement to buy 24 percent in China Eastern Airlines, the nation's third-
largest carrier, the firms said Friday. The Singaporean carrier and Temasek will inject a combined 7.16 billion Hong Kong dollars into the struggling Chinese airline to buy nearly 1.9 billion new shares in the firm, according to a statement filed with the Hong Kong stock exchange. Singapore Airlines will buy 1.235 billion shares for a 15.7 percent stake and Temasek 649 million shares for an 8.3 percent slice at 3.8 Hong Kong dollars per share.
November 11, 2007 7:09 PM
