HK shares drop 4.7 pct, earnings and U.S. autos weigh

Mon Mar 30, 2009 5:17am EDT
 
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* CCB slides 9.6 percent after Q4 earnings miss forecast

* Chalco plunges on Q4 loss, warning on 2009 Q1 loss

* Esprit down but off lows after co says CEO has not quit

(Updates to close)

By Parvathy Ullatil

HONG KONG, March 30 (Reuters) - Hong Kong shares slid 4.7 percent on Monday, their biggest single-day drop in three weeks, as worse-than-expected earnings weighed and after the U.S. rejected the turnaround plans of General Motors and Chrysler .

But many of the big winners in last week's 10 percent rally on the main index, including financial stocks and resources counters, bucked the market decline and rose further.

Esprit (0330.HK) shares bounced off early lows on Monday after the fashion retailer said it had not received the resignation of its chief executive, quashing talk of further management changes after a high-profile exit last week.

The world's number 6 fashion retailer announced the surprise departure of a company director late last week, sending its share price down by more than 9 percent on Friday and nearly 11 percent on Monday. The stock finished 6 percent lower at HK$39.7 on Monday, well off its lows. [ID:nHKG117810]

The benchmark Hang Seng Index .HSI closed down 663.17 points at 13,456.33, a one week low.

Slim turnover on the exchange at HK$51.5 billion, compared with Friday's HK$58.9 billion, indicated there was no panic selling on Monday.

Worries about the broad economic impact from the failure of GM GM.N or Chrysler rattled markets after the U.S. autos task force rejected their restructuring plans as inadequate. [ID:nSP207882]

"If GM and Chrysler are indeed headed for bankruptcy it could trigger panic in the bond and debentures market and that could possibly lead to what people here have been calling the second wave of the (financial) tsunami," said Peter Lai, director with DBS Vickers.

"Volumes have stayed small today with the smart funds selling into the rising market last week, so there isn't much selling pressure now," he said.

Worse-than-expected earnings also pressured some blue chip counters, with China Construction Bank (0939.HK) falling 9.6 percent and Chalco (2600.HK) slumping 12 percent.

Aluminium Corp of China, better known as Chalco, slid to HK$4.58 after posting a bigger-than-expected loss in the fourth quarter of 2008, its first deficit in a decade.  Continued...