HK shares seen retreating after recent rally
HONG KONG, March 30 (Reuters) - Hong Kong shares are set to drift lower on Monday after posting their biggest weekly gain in five months last week, following a sell-off in Wall Street bank stocks on Friday on fresh concerns over the health of the sector. China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (0386.HK) (Sinopec) will be in focus after it said it expects net profit for the first quarter to rise more than 50 percent from a year earlier on improved refining economics from tumbling crude prices.
On Sunday, Asia's top refiner reported a 47 percent drop in its 2008 earnings, beating analyst forecasts. [ID:nPEK319906]
The Hang Seng Index .HSI finished Friday at an 11-week high of 14,119.50 while turnover on the market stayed strong through last week, spurring hopes for a further upside in the market.
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STOCKS TO WATCH
* China Construction Bank (0939.HK), the world's second-most valuable lender, posted a 30 percent drop in fourth-quarter earnings as it booked provisions for potential bad loans amid slowing Chinese economic growth.
State-controlled China Construction Bank reported on Friday a fourth-quarter net profit of 8.4 billion yuan ($1.23 billion), compared with 12 billion yuan a year earlier. That lagged analysts' average forecast of 15.9 billion, according to Reuters Estimates.
For the year, its net income rose 34 percent to 92.6 billion yuan, from 69 billion yuan for 2007.
* Aluminum Corp of China Ltd (2600.HK) (601600.SS), the world's No.3 alumina producer, swung to a worse-than-expected quarterly loss and warned of a difficult 2009 as global aluminum prices plunged and costs rose.
Full-year net profit plunged 99.9 percent to 9.2 million yuan from a restated 10.75 billion yuan the previous year, Chalco said in a statement on Sunday.
The company had warned its 2008 net profit may more than halve on high costs and weak demand in the second half.
* CITIC Resources Holdings (1205.HK) said on Sunday it expected to make a substantial provision due to an asset impairment loss in respect of oil investments, which is expected to have a material negative impact on its 2008 final results.
It said its 2008 businesses overall performed better than in 2007 and cash generated from operating activities had significantly increased.
For statement please see here
* Sinopec (0386.HK) said it would buy oil product pipeline assets from its parent for 1.84 billion yuan. For statement please click here
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INSTRUMENT LAST PCT CHG NET CHG S&P 500 .SPX 815.94 -2.03% -16.920 USD/JPY JPY= 98.21 0.2% 0.200 10-YR US TSY YLD US10YT=RR 2.7643 -- 0.000 SPOT GOLD XAU= 924.05 0.21% 1.950 US CRUDE CLc1 51.86 -0.99% -0.520 DOW JONES .DJI 7776.18 -1.87% -148.38 ASIA ADRS .BKAS 91.74 -2.84% -2.68 -------------------------------------------------------------
MARKET SUMMARY *Wall St off on profit-taking, but up for week [ID:nN27270295] *Oil falls nearly $2 tracking stock markets [ID:nSP390460] *Dollar shines vs euro on stocks fall, ECB view [ID:nN27593048] *Long bonds rise before Fed's next purchase [ID:nN27261929]
(Reporting by Parvathy Ullatil; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)
