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

To: ---------- who wrote (1197)	1/26/1998 4:24:00 AM
From: allen menglin chen	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 2951

Thanks Doug, but I don't have a HK stock account. Do you recommend that I should open one? Which firm is reliable for internet trading, and what is the trade commision? Any problem w/ tax filing in US? Thanks in advance. Allen

To: ---------- who wrote (1197)	1/26/1998 9:54:00 AM
From: Richard Tsang	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 2951

Doug, I have to agree with the positive comments made by Mr Zhu on the two currencies in China and Hong Kong. I also think that China, as its work force become better trained and the facilities improved, the productivity gain will help with competitiveness compared with neighboring countries without resorting to a devaluation of the reminbi. Before the Asia crisis, there were lots of speculation of the appreciation of the local currency due to higher liguidity of forex within the country and a higher demand for the reminbi. I stopped over in Hong Kong for two days on my way back from the US. All I noticed there were not very encouraging. The job market is not as good. Picked up a copy of "Recruit" (a weekend job posting magazine given away free at major subway stations). Contents are not that interesting except that "engineering" and jobs in the IT field are still plentiful. On the other hand, also read about job cuts by Cathay Pacific to stay competitive. On the positive side I saw that the city is still very beautiful - the festive decorations for Chinese new year is not reduced. The property market continues to correct with trasaction prices hitting new lows (for the year, not historical). IMO, the so called new lows are still very expensive. High rise apartments in the suburb districts are still selling at HK$3600-6000 psf (US$465-775). The impression I've got is that there are more voices for cheaper housing than that for higher prices and so speculation is that the prices will have more to fall - really bad news for my new investment!. Witnessed a bankruptcy of another stock borkerage firm. There may be more to come. Most small brokerages are tied somehow to a "financial institution" which can raise fund and make loans, and are not under scrutiny by any government control body. There may be some domino effect here. Back to Shanghai since yesterday (1/25) and in a dicussion with a local businessman Mr Zhou (owner of a local Shanghai small manufactuer of about 100 people) at a dinner party last night, I learned of the growing concern of the "tiangle debt" again in China. Hopefully, this is only a seasonal thing as the Chinese saying goes "money are most tight just before the Chinese new year season". Mr Zhou is also concerned about a few instances in which he exported to other Asian customers who are now finding excuses not to pay because these customers are either having a problem absorbing the price which is in US$ or having cashflow problems. This may be indication that China will be affected soon if the Asian Problem does not go away. Picked up a new money magazine (8th weekly) in Hong Kong and the investment tips column listed the following (as of 1/24/98): BUY: 178,44,303,19,243,267,710 LT BUY: 669 Hold: 270,41,83 Accumulate:576 Sell:636,293 (Cathay Pacific),96 Above are for strictly for information only. RT