"....Interesting going's on across the Pond....":
China Telecom lifts HSI
Apr 8 2000 9:45AM STEPHEN SEAWRIGHT
Hong Kong stocks rose 2.73 per cent yesterday on the back of a surge in China Telecom after a recovery in the Nasdaq Composite Index.
The Hang Seng Index leapt 450.29 points to close at 16,941.68 on a turnover of $13.37 billion.
China Telecom jumped 10.35 per cent to $69.25 amid buying of large telecommunication and technology stocks.
China Telecom pushed the index up 403 points.
The magnitude of the rise in the counter was also boosted by the short squeezing, where investors had to rush to square positions as the stock continued to record gains.
"In the previous few days a lot of houses took short positions on this stock," Capital Securities assistant sales director Peggy Ho said.
Other telecommunications and technology stocks also bounced back yesterday.
Television Broadcasts gained 6.43 per cent to $62 and SmarTone Telecommunications climbed 4.78 per cent to $26.30.
The upturn in the technology-heavy Nasdaq index - which rose 2.35 per cent on Thursday after 0.49 per cent gain on Wednesday - after the sharp correction at the start of the week helped boost technology stocks in Hong Kong.
"The market was oversold in the last few days and [yesterday we saw] some pick-up in the technology sector," OSK Securities research manager Alex Wong said.
"Old economy" stocks, such as property and finance counters, had a mixed performance. Henderson Investment slid 3.38 per cent to $5.70 and Amoy Properties eased 0.95 per cent to $5.20. Dao Heng Bank moved up 4.23 per cent to $36.60 and Shangri-La added 1.92 per cent to $7.95.
Earlier this week, most property and finance counters rose after investors bought them as a safe haven when technology stocks fell.
The Growth Enterprise Index rebounded yesterday, closing 42.53 points, or 6.05 per cent, higher at 745.48.
Tom.com soared 6.25 per cent to $8.50 and Sunevision finished 3.73 per cent ahead at $11.10.
Hongkong.com gained 10.67 per cent to $1.97 but the counter was still 70.81 per cent down from its closing high of $6.75.
Brokers said many small Internet-related counters would not recover from the recent correction.
"This will squeeze a lot of Internet stocks out of the market," Tai Fook Securities sales director Andrew To Koon-hung said.
Leading Internet stocks such as Pacific Century CyberWorks, which rose 4.47 per cent to $16.35 yesterday, should recover more strongly.
The red-chip index soared 121.6 points, or 8.95 per cent, to 1,480.06 on the back of heavyweight Legend's surge of 19.33 per cent to $12.65.
Brokers said market strength depended on the performance of Nasdaq and that there were still risks of further falls in the local market.
"I'm not too bullish after such a rebound," Mr Wong said. "It may only be a technical rebound [and] turnover is not strong."
Phillip Securities research director Louis Wong Wai-kit said: "Approaching 17,000, there is some resistance." |
