Hong Kong Shares Close at Record High

Hong Kong Shares Rise to Second Straight Record Close, Led by Property Stocks


Hong Kong shares rose to a second straight record close Thursday, boosted by property stocks on expectations of a U.S. interest rate cut next week.
The blue chip Hang Seng index rose 226.88 points, or 0.9 percent, to 24,537.02.

ADVERTISEMENT


But analysts said the benchmark index is unlikely to rise much further, and predicted profit-taking in the near-term.

Blue chip property developers outperformed the broad market Thursday, with Wharf Holdings adding 6.9 percent. Henderson Land rose 4 percent while Sino Land ended 4.2 percent higher.

Sun Hung Kai Properties finished 2.3 percent higher ahead of its fiscal full-year result announcement which was due after market closed.

"They (property stocks) are not attractive anymore. Profit-taking is very likely to set in very soon," said Castor Pang, a strategist at Sun Hung Kai & Research Ltd.

UBS AG said in a research report that Hong Kong developer stocks are still attractive compared with their counterparts in Singapore in terms of valuation, citing "the high correlation between Hibor (Hong Kong interbank offered rate) and the U.S. Fed funds rate."

A U.S. Federal Reserve policy meeting is scheduled on Tuesday, when market watchers widely expect it to lower rates for the first time since June 2003. Hong Kong rates tend to follow U.S. rates because the Hong Kong dollar is pegged to the dollar.

PetroChina ended 0.4 percent lower at HK$11.32, after falling as much as 2.6 percent earlier in the session. The stock fell after U.S. investor Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway trimmed its stake in China's largest listed oil and gas producer to 9.72 percent from 10.16 percent at HK$11.47 apiece.

Chalco finished 8.5 percent lower at HK$18.66, after Alcoa sold its entire 8-percent stake in the world's second-largest alumina producer and a 10-percent cut in spot alumina price.

Turnover totaled HK$109.21 billion ($14 billion), up from HK$97.48 billion
HONG KONG (AP)