* China, HK shares track weak overseas markets
* HK developers fall after HKMA limits mortgages
* China Life gains on rosy earnings outlook
(Updates to midday)
By Jun Ebias and Claire Zhang
HONG KONG/SHANGHAI, Oct 27 (Reuters) - Hong Kong shares
retreated on Tuesday from a 14-month high, as investors pocketed
recent gains on Wall Street, while local developers slumped after
the government moved to curb rising property prices.
In Shanghai, China's key stock index sank 1.77 percent, led
by energy and metals shares on soft commodity prices and
pressured by weak markets overseas, which spurred the market to
consolidate recent strong gains.
The benchmark Hang Seng Index .HSI fell 1.46 percent or
330.21 points to 22,259.52. Turnover was at HK$42.84 billion
($5.5 billion), versus midday Friday's HK$40.62 billion.
Among property developers, Sino Land (0083.HK) fell 4.76
percent, Henderson Land (0012.HK) dropped 3.89 percent, Sung Hung
Kai Properties (0016.HK) declined 3.11 percent and Hang Lung
Properties (0101.HK) retreated 3.05 percent.
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority on Friday said it would
implement measures to slow a surge in luxury property prices
driven by rich buyers from mainland China, including capping
mortgage loan values. [ID:nHKG305705]
"In the last few weeks, things got out of hand and property
prices skyrocketed," said Jackson Wong, investment manager at
Tanrich Securities. "The government is just trying to cool things
down a little bit. It's not going to affect property prices."
Hong Kong was not expected to adopt more measures to restrict
demand for property, Wong said, adding that it may instead boost
supply by buying more land.
The China Enterprise Index of top locally listed mainland
Chinese companies .HSCE fell 0.46 percent to 13,254.53,led by a
4.8 percent drop in China Oilfield (2883.HK).
China Life (2628.HK) reversed earlier losses and gained
nearly 2 percent on optimism that rising financial markets would
sustain its long-term growth. The world's top life insurer by
market value on Monday reported that third-quarter earnings more
than doubled. [ID:nPEK296325]
Rival Ping An Insurance (2318.HK) was up 2.01 percent, after
opening down 2.43 percent, ahead of the announcement of its
third-quarter results later in the day.
China National Building Material Co Ltd (3323.HK) was up 1.04
percent, after its 52.4 percent owned unit Beijing New Building
Material 000786.SZ posted a 246.8 percent rise in third-quarter
net profit.
ANTA Sports (2020.HK) fell 4.85 percent. The company said its
major shareholders would sell a total 80 million shares, or 3.2
percent of the company, at HK$10 each as part of their asset
management plan.
China CITIC Bank (0998.HK) gained 1.17 percent. The bank on
Monday posted a 7.52 percent rise in third-quarter earnings to
4.35 billion yuan as it developed a fee-based income business and
increased the proportion of non-interest income.
SHANGHAI DOWN
The Shanghai Composite Index .SSEC ended the morning at
3,054.538 points, after scoring an 11 percent gain so far this
month as of Monday's close.
Losing Shanghai A shares outnumbered gainers by 764 to 174,
while turnover dropped to 70 billion yuan ($10 billion) from
Monday morning's 76 billion yuan.
Energy and metals shares were hit hard by weakness in
commodity prices, with China Shenhua Energy (601088.SS) down 3.15
percent at 35.32 yuan and Jiangxi Copper (600362.SS) down 3.16
percent at 40.48 yuan.
Financial shares were soft, with Industrial and Commercial
Bank of China (601398.SS), the country's biggest lender, slipping
1.34 percent to 5.15 yuan.
A total of 236 billion ICBC shares worth 1.23 trillion yuan
became tradeable on Tuesday after the expiry of lock-up periods
but analysts said they were mainly in the hands of big
institutions that were unlikely to cut their holdings sharply.
"Soft overseas stock and commodity markets encouraged
selling, but earnings could help the index to stay firm," said
Chen Shaodan, senior analyst at Stockfly Securities in Beijing.
The official China Securities Journal reported that, with
about half of China's 1,600-plus listed companies having posted
third-quarter results so far, combined net profit was running
slightly above the same period last year.
Analysts also noted a significant improvement in earnings
from the second quarter and several believed the index would find
support after a test of the downside around the 10-day moving
average, now at 3,044 points.
They believed the market was due for a breather after its
recent run-up, fuelled by optimism over the earnings outlook,
which pushed the relative strength index to 63 as of Monday's
close, indicating the index was starting to get overbought.
Chinese stock market investors have gradually been regaining
confidence over the course of this year and the results of listed
companies have been improving, China's top securities regulator
said in comments published late on Monday. [ID:nLQ202837]
China Life (601628.SS) slipped 0.92 percent to 31.25 yuan. It
had risen 3.85 percent on Monday ahead of the earnings
announcement in anticipation of a strong report.
Renewed speculation of an imminent announcement on the
approval of a long-discussed Walt Disney (DIS.N) proposal to
build a theme park in Shanghai lifted shares of companies
rumoured as likely participants in the project, with Shanghai
Lujiazui Finance & Trade Zone Development (600663.SS) up 3.24
percent at 29.28 yuan and Shanghai Jielong Group Industry
(600836.SS) climbing 4.34 percent to 15.85 yuan.
A Disney representative could not immediately be reached for
comment in Hong Kong
(Editing by Chris Lewis)
