Telecom Stocks in HK Rally

123jump.com Staff
23 May, 2008
New York City

Hong Kong continue to trade in a tight range. For the week stocks fell 3.5% as oil surged nearly 10%. Stocks in Shanghai fell 1% in Fridays trading. Talks of telecom deregulaton intensified and several telecom stocks in Hong Kong trading were suspended ahead of annoucements. China Mobile fell but China Unicom, China Netcom and China Telecom surged before the suspension.

[R]6:00AM New York, 6:00PM Hong Kong – Global market weakness and rising crude oil prices dragged Hang Seng by 3.5% in the week.[/R]

Stocks in Hong Kong declined as oil prices slumped.

In Hong Kong trading the Hang Seng Index fell 1.31% or 329.05 at 24,714.07, down 3.5% for the week, and the China Enterprises Index of Hong Kong-listed mainland companies, or H shares, plunged 1.33% or 184.43 to 13,636.41, falling 3.9% for the week. In Shanghai trading CSI 300 Index fell 0.98% or 36.30 at 3,675.15.

Daily turnover on main-board was HK$75.3 billion compared with HK$81.1 billion yesterday.

National Development and Reform Commission refutes fuel liberalization claims

China Daily reported today that the National Development and Reform Commission reported on its Web site yesterday that the “reports which say the government might liberalize oil and gas prices in advance in early June are groundless.""

Recently, reports alleged that Beijing will end its controls on refined oil prices in the near future and that the NDRC, the National Energy Bureau and the country''s leading oil companies PetroChina and Sinopec were in final discussions about the liberalization of fuel prices.

Crude oil price has surged 40% since the beginning of the year. Losses at refiners are rising crude oil prices surge and retail petrol prices are controlled by the government.

Gainers & Losers

CNOOC fell 6.6% after crude prices fell from as high as $135 to $133 per barrel today.

China Mobile slid 3.8% on reports from Xinhua News Agency that its parent company will acquire China Railcom and China Mobile group would also take executives from smaller rivals as part of the company’s restructuring. Three of the four Chinese telecom firms suspended trading at around noon. China Unicom increased 11.9%, China Netcom gained 12.5% and China Telecom edged up 7% before the trading was halted.

Telecom equipment maker ZTE spiked 5% and China Communications Services Corp surged 10% as the companies became bullish of the post-restructure process.

Insurance firms fell as well. Ping An dropped 3% and China Life slipped 2.2%. Property companies also fell. Sun Hung Kai Properties declined 2.1%.