HK, Shanghai shares rise; debutant Greens Holdings up
* Shares lifted by U.S. data
* Steel, metal issues lead China market to 3-month high
(Updates to midday)
By Jun Ebias and Claire Zhang
HONG KONG/SHANGHAI, Nov 6 (Reuters) - Hong Kong shares climbed on Friday, spurred by gains on Wall Street and encouraging U.S. data, while China rose to a fresh three-month high as steel and metal shares firmed.
The benchmark Hang Seng Index .HSI rose 1.68 percent or 361.92 points to 21,841.00 at midday, recovering from a 0.63 percent loss in the previous session.
Turnover was HK$37.01 billion ($4.8 billion), up from midday Thursday's HK$35.71 billion. But it was still below last Thursday's HK$47.68 billion as most were waiting for the U.S. jobless data due later in the day.
"We have a pretty good sentiment today that we might be able to test the 22,000 level," said Jackson Wong, investment manager at Tanrich Securities. "Last night we had some surprisingly strong data from the U.S. that propelled the Dow."
Greens Holdings (1318.HK) narrowed gains and was up 19 percent on its trading debut, the third firm to rise on its first trading day this week after Chinese developer Evergrande Real Estate (3333.HK) and fashion retailer Trinity (0891.HK).
Evegrande fell nearly 6 percent and Trinity shed 5.17 percent as investors pocketed recent gains.
Manulife Financial Corp (MFC.TO) (0945.HK) lost 3.01 percent. North America's largest life insurer said it had a loss of C$172 million ($162 million) in the third quarter. [ID:nN049268]
Bank of East Asia (0023.HK) was up almost 4 percent. The lender rose 3.33 percent on Thursday after a newspaper report that Guoco Group (0053.HK) raised its stake in the bank to 8.01 percent from 7.99 percent. [ID:nHKG80610]
The China Enterprise Index .HSCE of top locally listed mainland Chinese stocks rose 1.72 percent to 13,024.91.
China Unicom (0762.HK) gained for a third day, rising 3.45
percent. The stock has risen 6.2 percent in the last two
sessions, after the Chinese mobile carrier said on Tuesday that
it had signed up more than 1 million 3G subscribers.
CNOOC (0883.HK) was up 2.87 percent. The oil firm has agreed to buy a minority stake in four prospects in the Gulf of Mexico from Norway's Statoil (STL.OL). [ID:nL5510922]
Chinese oil producer PetroChina (0857.HK) rose 2.27 percent.
The state-owned firm's north China unit aims to boost its storage
capacity in the next three years to ensure energy security.
[ID:nPEK151896]
China Shenhua Energy (1088.HK) advanced 2.92 percent. Parent Shenhua Group, China's largest coal miner, and Dow Chemical (DOW.N) will reportedly move ahead with their planned $10 billion coal-to-chemical project in Shaanxi province. [ID:nPEK157625]
Local developers rose after a sell-off in recent sessions on
concerns Hong Kong may adopt measures to cool property prices,
crimping profits. Sino Land (0083.HK) was up 2.96 percent.
SHANGHAI AT THREE-MONTH HIGHS
The Shanghai Composite Index .SSEC ended the morning at 3,174.403, heading for its best weekly rise in five months with a gain of nearly 6 percent so far this week.
Gaining Shanghai A shares outnumbered losers by 593 to 266, while turnover picked up to 94 billion yuan ($13.77 billion) from Thursday morning's 81 billion yuan.
Analysts said the index's strong performance this week was driven by expectations for robust October economic data, due for release next week, and solid earnings at listed firms, but the index could be vulnerable to a short-term pull-back on profit-taking after the rise.
Unexpectedly strong earnings at listed Chinese companies have spurred analysts to raise their profit forecasts, creating room for an about 15 percent rise in the index over the next three months. [ID:nSHA122035]
"Monetary policy is expected to remain stable for the moment and underlying market sentiment is strong," said Guo Yanlin, head of research department at Shanghai Securities. She expected the index to move between the psychologically key chart points of 3,000 and 3,200 in the coming weeks.
Guo said expectations of renewed yuan appreciation against the dollar would boost firms with substantial local-currency assets, such as banks and property developers. [ID:nSHA214323]
China Vanke (000002.SZ), the country's second-largest
property developer, gained 1.02 percent to 11.89 yuan after
saying on Friday that its property sales in October soared 95
percent from a year earlier to 6.5 billion yuan ($952.2 million).
[ID:nSHA127237]
Steel and metal shares were firmer, with Baoshan Iron and Steel (600019.SS) climbing 2.1 percent to 7.28 yuan while Jiangxi Copper (600362.SS) advanced 2.95 percent to 41.13 yuan.
Two new shares made firm debuts in Shenzhen, with Jiangsu Yanghe Brewery Joint-Stock (002304.SZ) gaining 50 percent from its IPO price to 90.12 yuan while Wuhan Langold Real Estate (002305.SZ) jumped 80 percent to 22.20 yuan.
Shares of firms based on China's southern island of Hainan outperformed after the official China Securities Journal reported that a plan to develop international tourism on the island may soon get approval, while analysts and media reports said several mutual funds had recently bought such shares actively.
Hainan Expressway (000886.SZ) jumped its 10 percent daily limit to 5.48 yuan while Hainan Yedao (600238.SS) climbed 6.54 percent to 16.93 yuan.
(Editing by Jonathan Hopfner)
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