HONG KONG, May 20 (Reuters) - Hong Kong stocks are expected
to hold steady on Tuesday, with investors continuing to focus on
energy and raw material counters amid high prices.
"Overseas markets are a bit mixed and the Hang Seng index is
likely to move within between 25,500 and 25,900 points," said
Patrick Yiu, an associate director at CASH Asset Management.
Oil, gold and coal counters should rise further on strong
prices but these stocks should become more volatile after the
recent rally, he added.
Citigroup late on Monday upgraded China's top cement maker,
Anhui Conch (0914.HK), to buy from sell, saying its new projects
and planned new A-share issue bodes well for profitability.
Anhui Conch said it planned to speed up capacity expansion in
western China. [ID:nHKG353188]
But the investment bank downgraded China National Building
Material (3323.HK) to sell from hold on profit fears.
[IDnHKG35087]
The benchmark Hang Seng index .HSI rose 0.48 percent to
25,742.23 on Monday. The China Enterprises Index of Hong
Kong-listed mainland companies .HSCE, or H shares, gained 1.28
percent at 14,367.70.
----------------------MARKET SNAPSHOT @ 2358 GMT ------------
INSTRUMENT LAST PCT CHG NET CHG
S&P 500 .SPX 1426.63 0.09% 1.280
USD/JPY JPY= 104.43 0.12% 0.130
10-YR US TSY YLD US10YT=RR 3.837 -- 0.004
SPOT GOLD XAU= 902.6 -0.15% -1.350
US CRUDE CLc1 127.25 0.16% 0.200
DOW JONES .DJI 13028.16 0.32% 41.36
ASIA ADRS .BKAS 169.17 -0.01% -0.02
-------------------------------------------------------------
FACTORS TO WATCH:
* Nikkei slips as banks sold, trading houses up [.T]
* Energy shares boost Dow, S&P 500 in light volume [.N]
* Asian energy shares seen rising, tech firms weak [STXNEWS/AS]
* Oil rises past $127, OPEC says no need for hike [O/R]
* Dollar rebounds as economic slump seen near bottom [USD/]
* For upcoming Hong Kong events, click on [HK/DIARY]
* For Hong Kong press digest, click on [PRESS/HK]
STOCKS TO WATCH:
* Shui On Land (0272.HK) said it would sell 25 percent of a
Shanghai integrated residential development project for 1.125
billion yuan with an option to sell another 24 percent of the
project for 1.134 billion yuan. For details please see
here
# Asia Cement (China) Holdings Corp (0743.HK) said its
Sichuan Yadong Plant had resumed operations on May 19 and it did
not expect any material impact on its business operation and
financial performance due to the earthquake and the associated
aftershocks. For details please see
here
* Jinhui Holdings Co Ltd (0137.HK) said it would pay HK$379.5
million for the construction of a bulk carrier with deadweight
59,760 metric tonnes in Japan. Sumitomo Corporation is the
contractor of the vessel. For details please see
here
* Shenzhen Expressway (0548.HK) said the average daily toll
revenue from its Meiguan Expressway fell 16.4 percent
year-on-year in April while toll revenue from Jihe West rose 6.2
percent, Yanpai Expressway jumped 21.1 percent, and Yanba
Expressway up 9.4 percent. For details please see
here
* Ping An Insurance (Group) (2318.HK) said premium incomes of
Ping An Life Insurance Company of China, and Ping An Property &
Casualty Insurance Company of China for the first four months of
2008 were 35.1 billion yuan and 9.9 billion yuan respectively.
For details please see
here
* China Unicom (0762.HK) said its aggregated number of GSM
cellular service subscribers increased to 125.434 million in
April from 124.225 million in March, while the aggregated number
of CDMA service subscribers rose to 43.098 million in April from
42.809 million in March. For details please see
here
* China Life (2628.HK) said unaudited accumulated premiums
income for the period from January 1 to April 30 amounted to
about 128 billion yuan. For details please see
here
* Ming An (Holdings) Co 1389.HK said unaudited accumulated
gross insurance premium income of its unit, The Ming AnInsurance
Company (China), for the first four months of 2008 amounted to
254.60 million yuan. For details please see
here
(Reporting by Alison Leung; )
