Roundup: Hong Kong stocks end higher on mainland market rebound

HONG KONG, Apr 15, 2008 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- -- Hong Kong stocks rose 90.13 points, or 0.38 percent, to close at 23,901.33 on Tuesday, following the rebound of major markets in the region, especially mainland's Shanghai market.

Turnover shrank to 71.4 billion HK dollars (9.17 billion U.S. dollars) from Monday's 74.85 billion HK dollars (9.61 billion U.S. dollars).

Analysts said worries of further policy tightening in Chinese mainland limited the local market's rise, and would likely lead to choppy trade in the near term. Investors are awaiting the release of major economic indicators this week, including the first-quarter gross domestic product data due on Wednesday.

"Investment sentiment remains fragile while most investors are cautious as volatility in the U.S. and China markets is likely to remain," said Linus Yip, a strategist at First Shanghai Securities.

Power companies rose as investors sought defensive stocks. CLP gained 2.3 percent to 64.80 HK dollars, while Hongkong Electric climbed 1.1 percent to 49.55 HK dollars. Cheung Kong Infrastructure, which owns 39 percent of Hongkong Electric, rose 4. 5 percent to 32.60 HK dollars. Hong Kong China Gas, the city's dominant gas supplier, gained 1.6 percent to 21.75 HK dollars.

Rising oil prices also boosted oil companies. PetroChina rose 0. 7 percent to 9.87 HK dollars, while upstream oil company Cnooc advanced 3.3 percent to 12.60 HK dollars.

Among bank stocks, HSBC was down 0.46 percent, Hang Seng Bank up 1.11 percent, Bank of East Asia up 1.82 percent, BOC HK up 0.95 percent, and StanChart down 1.23 percent.

On the mainland telecom stocks side, China Mobile was up 0.87 percent, China Unicom up 1.13 percent, Netcom flat, and China Telecom down 1.2 percent.

The three mainland insurers developed individually. China Life edged up 0.35 percent, while Ping An and PICC P$C fell 1.69 percent and 0.78 percent.

The six mainland banks performed differently. ICBC, CCB and Bank of China rose 0.17 percent to 0.95 percent. Bankcomm was down 0.79 percent, CM Bank up 0.18 percent and CITIC Bank down 0.22 percent. (One U.S. dollar = 7.786 HK dollars)

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