Telecom, Shippers Fall in HK Trading

123jump.com Staff
04 Sep, 2008
New York City

Stocks in Shanghai and Hong Kong traded mixed. Telecom stocks declined. In Hong Kong trading Hang Seng Index fell 0.91% or 198.58 to 20,389.48 and in Shanghai trading CSI 300 Index rose 0.2% or 5.18 to 2,251.15. National Tourism Administration said China

[R]6:00AM New York, 6:00PM Hong Kong – Stocks in Shanghai and Hong Kong trading fell. Telecom stocks declined. China’s tourism revenue crosses Rmb1 trillion in 2007.[/R]

Market Sentiment

In Hong Kong trading Hang Seng Index fell 0.91% or 198.58 to 20,389.48, and the China Enterprises Index of Hong Kong listed mainland shares, or H shares, slumped 1.37% or 151.92 to 10,924.11. In Shanghai trading CSI 300 Index rose 0.23% or 5.18 to 2,251.15.

Daily turnover on main-board was HK$56.5 billion compared with HK$56.1 billion yesterday.

China’s Tourism Revenue Rise to Rmb1.09 trillion in 2007

The People’s Daily Online reported on its Web site today that the National Tourism Administration said China’s tourism revenue crossed Rmb1 trillion for the first time to reach Rmb1.09 trillion in 2007.

Director of National Tourism Administration Wang Zhifa noted that by the end of 2007 China had 18,000 travel agencies, 13,000 star-rated hotels and 20,000 scenic sports and the number of undergraduate students in tourism reached 730,000. More than 10 million people rely directly on tourism.

The report said inbound tourists rose from 1.8 million person day in 1978 to 132 million person day in 2007 with the foreign exchange earnings from tourism increasing by 159 times, noted the release.

ICBC Assets Rise 22% to US$43 billion

Separately, the online edition reported that foreign institutional assets of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China rose 22% from the same period a year ago to US$43 billion by the end of June 2008.

During the first half-year, overseas institutions of ICBC realised profits of US$240 million after provisions, which reflects a rise of 42% from a year ago.

Net income from service charge and commission remittance increased to US$90 million, while the non-performing loan rate of the overseas institutions dropped 0.15 percentage points from the beginning of the year to 0.49%.

Gainers & Losers

Hong Kong stock indexes fell on rising concern over slowing economic growth.

China Communications Construction plunged 13.7% to HK$10.74 on news that investment will fall in China’s construction sector and soaring raw material costs. Also Citigroup downgraded the stock to “sell” from “hold” and Deutsche Bank slashed its rating to “hold” from “buy”.

China Netcom climbed 2.2% on the news that Telefonica will shore up its stake in the company by 5.74% to 802 million euros. China Unicom also advanced 2% as well.

Shipping lines also dropped after the Baltic Dry Index slid 4.9% yesterday on speculation that demand for raw materials from China will fall. China Cosco tumbled 6.2% to HK$12.40 and China Shipping Development fell 5.1%.

Beverage makers also increased on Coca-Cola US$2.5 billion bid for China Huiyuan Juice. Kingway Brewery Holdings gained 23.5% and China Haisheng Juice added 2%. However, Huiyuan Juice dipped 7.7% to HK$10.48.