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Strategies & Market Trends : HONG KONG -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Julius Wong who wrote (950)	12/5/1997 10:41:00 PM
From: ----------	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 2951

Julius & all: This is an excellent example of why I try very hard NOT to read newspapers. I can say in all honesty I have not watched a network news broadcast in over 10 years. I live in the country. If I want bull(excrement), I can climb the fence and pick up a fresh cow pie right out of the field. To say that all Asian businessmen and/or governments became arrogant is , is .. I can't think of a word bad enough. I would remind the author of this piece of yellow journalism that the Chinese Government EXECUTED some corporate executives of companies because they were ripping of the workers and the shareholders. It would take me a megabyte of disk space to list the individuals in America who wished we had similar penalties for white collar (or sports celebrity) criminals who can buy their way out of the justice system. Regarding Americans; if nothing else we have proven that there is a direct inverse correlation between the size of one's brain & the size of one's mouth. (Yes, I may very well be an example of that.) But I would disagree with the sweeping generalizations made in this article. I would also gladly tell the author that the last time I saw such sweeping generalizations about races & cultures was in a little European newspaper that went by the name of "Volkische Beobachter." Doug

To: Julius Wong who wrote (950)	12/8/1997 7:37:00 AM
From: Julius Wong	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 2951

[The Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition][Personal Journal News] Dow Jones Newswires -- December 8, 1997 HK's Hang Seng To Reach 18,800 Pts By End-1998 - Worldsec AP-Dow Jones News Service HONG KONG -- Hong Kong's blue-chip Hang Seng Index will shrug off the disruption caused by Asia's currency turmoil to reach 18,800 points by the end of 1998, and 20,000 points the following year, said Bethany Chan, director of research for Hong Kong brokerage Worldsec International Ltd. Monday. Chan told a gathering of investors, 'We believe that the difficulties that now beset us will be history in a year's time, and the excitement we saw in the first half of 1997 about Hong Kong and China will come back.' She added, 'Perhaps, by then, 15 times prospective earnings will again look reasonable, allowing the Hang Seng Index to reach 18,800 by end-1998 and 20,000 to be reached in 1999.' Chan told investors that the sudden switch in market sentiment caused by the currency crisis had surprised everyone. 'Basically, we're being derailed, put off track,' said Chan. But she said Hong Kong remained competitive thanks to China, adding that Hong Kong's currency peg to the U.S. dollar can survive further speculative attacks. 'We believe that the Hong Kong dollar peg will stay (intact), and that the Hong Kong-dollar interest rates will come back down with the prime rate falling back to 8.75% by around mid-1998 after speculation has subsided,' Chan said in a report presented at the briefing. Yen borrowing costs now are about 2% against 10% for the Hong Kong dollar, she said, and Worldsec is recommending investors short the yen and go long on the Hong Kong dollar. Worldsec is 25% owned by Bank of Tokyo/Mitsubishi and listed in London. n/djn Worldsec also predicted that Hong Kong's battered residential property sector will only fall another 20% to bring prices back to 1996 levels. This is well down on the 50% fall forecast by some of the more bearish commentators, Chan said. 'There is enormous pent-up demand increasing at the rate of 85,000 homes per annum in the future, compared with the 70,000 actually built in the past,' Chan said. She said Worldsec is confident people will return to the market once prices reach affordable levels. Property-related earnings form a less significant part of the Hang Seng Index than previously -- rentals now account for 8% of the total, down from 13% two years ago. Worldsec also expects China's yuan to stand firm amid the currency turmoil. 'The renminbi (yuan) effectively depreciated in January 1994 by 33% with the merge of the official rate with the swap rate, and the recent (Asian) depreciations can be thought of as catch-up by the other countries,' Worldsec said in its report. China is in a position to reflate its economy, the report said. Mainland inflation is low, so the government can further cut interest rates. by Sean Kennedy; (852) 2802 7002; skennedy@ap.org Return to top of page [Toolbar] Copyright c 1997 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.