Hong Kong Stocks - Tech Stocks Hit Market
February 5, 2001
Dow Jones Newswires
HONG KONG -- Mirroring a poor performance on the
Nasdaq Composite Index, telecommunications and
technology counters led the Hong Kong stock market lower
Monday as investors played it safe and took profits in case
of more bad news in the days ahead.
The Hang Seng Index fell 240.45, or 1.5%, to 15830.84.
Volume was 6.61 billion Hong Kong dollars.
Investors are especially fearing earnings reports from some
major U.S. technology companies later this week, which
have the potential to be worse than expected in a slowing
economy, one analyst noted.
Trading activities were fairly subdued, and the blue-chip
index closed above an initial support level of 15800 despite
dipping below it twice during the session. This, dealers said,
suggests the upside trend is still in place.
"Hong Kong fundamentals are still quite solid and there is a
chance that the Fed [Federal Reserve] will cut rates again,"
noted Patrick Yu, senior research manager at Kingsway S
W Securities. He added, however, that if the benchmark
falls below 15700, it is likely to test 15500 quite quickly.
China Mobile fell HK$1.65 to HK$48.60, Hutchison
Whampoa dropped HK$1.50 to HK$101.50 and Pacific
Century CyberWorks dropped 12.5 Hong Kong cents to
HK$4.675. Investors are getting concerned that Cable &
Wireless PLC may try to offload half its stake in
CyberWorks in the market if it can't find one buyer for it
before the sales moratorium ends Feb. 17. Technology
leader Legend slipped 30 cents to HK$6.45.
China Unicom tumbled 55 cents to HK$12.50. SmarTone
Telecommunications, which together with some other
local operators lagged the major telecom stocks last week,
was a winner Monday, adding 25 cents to HK$12.50.
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