Hong Kong stocks end flat, Shanghai up again

Friday, 27 March 2015 15:20

Posted by Parvez Jabri

HONG KONG: Hong Kong stocks ended marginally lower Friday as another advance in Shanghai was offset by losses on Wall Street and mounting concerns over the crisis in Yemen.

The benchmark Hang Seng Index slipped 10.88 points to 24,486.20 on turnover of HK$ 77.88 billion ($ 10.05 billion).

New York provided a negative lead Thursday, with all three main indexes down on news that Saudi Arabian jets targeted rebel positions in Yemen in support of the country’s president, who fled his presidential complex the previous day after it was attacked by a warplane.

Iran condemned the action by a Saudi coalition of regional Sunni nations, exacerbating longstanding Saudi-Iranian tensions and sparking fears of a conflagration in the already-volatile region.

In New York the Dow eased 0.23 percent, the S&P 500 dropped 0.24 percent and the Nasdaq lost 0.27 percent.

However, the HSI took some support from yet another advance in mainland shares, which have surged on the back of comments by China’s Premier Li Keqiang that the government could take more steps to boost the economy.

Tencent added 0.78 percent to HK$ 141.90, China Resources Land surged 5.04 percent to HK$ 21.90 and Hutchison gained 0.28 percent to HK$ 107.30.

HSBC was unchanged at HK$ 67.35, Lenovo lost 1.77 percent to end at HK$ 11.08 and transport giant MTR Corp. dipped 0.27 percent to HK$ 36.30.

In mainland China, the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index added 0.24 percent, or 9.00 points, to 3,691.10 on turnover of 509.3 billion yuan ($ 83.0 billion). The index has now risen for 12 sessions out of 13, including a 10-day winning streak that ended on Wednesday.

The Shenzhen Composite Index, which tracks stocks on China’s second exchange, rose 1.12 percent, or 21.36 points, to 1,935.59 on turnover of 422.7 billion yuan.

“Hopes that China will further ease its monetary policy or launch more fiscal policies as well as reform plans gave investors a reason to continue to chase the recent rally,” Citic Securities analyst Zhang Qun told AFP.

The stock market has rallied more than 12 percent in just over two weeks.

Property firms led the gains. Shanghai-listed Cinda Real Estate surged 9.86 percent to 9.14 yuan, while Shenzhen-listed China Merchants Property Development jumped 7.61 percent to 30.40 yuan.

PetroChina lost 2.42 percent to 11.70 yuan in Shanghai after it said Thursday that net profit slumped 17 percent year-on-year in 2014 to 107.17 billion yuan.

Banking giant ICBC slipped 0.21 percent to 4.71 yuan in Shanghai after it reported its 2014 net profit rose just five percent year-over-year to 275.81 billion yuan.