HK shares seen up on ICBC's positive earnings
HONG KONG, July 4 (Reuters) - Hong Kong shares are seen moving higher on Friday, after conceding nearly 4 percent in the previous two sessions, with a positive earnings announcement from China's biggest bank helping financial stocks recover.
Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (1398.HK) said on Thursday its first-half net profit grew by more than 50 percent as income from both lending and fees from services boomed. [ID:nHKG337025]
"The Hong Kong market is grossly oversold, coming within 700 points of the March low on Thursday, We should see some technical rebound at this point," said Andrew To, sales director with Tai Fook Securities.
"ICBC's positive earnings should help H-shares but oil prices hit a high yesterday, which will again cap gains."
Investors are likely to be less cautious ahead of the July 4th holiday in the U.S. today.
The Dow rose on Thursday, a day after the blue-chip average entered a bear market, on relief payrolls data was not as weak as some had feared and with another record oil price boosting energy shares.
Crude oil prices crossed the $145 per barrel mark on Thursday on bets that a weak dollar, sliding U.S. inventories and tension between Isreal and OPEC member Iran would push prices to $150 soon.
The Hang Seng Index .HSI closed 2.1 percent lower on Thursday at a 15-week low, as financial stocks and insurers plunged on fears of further credit tightening in China and sentiment weakened as oil prices marched on. STOCKS TO WATCH
*Mainland banks are expected to recover from Thursday's sharp losses after ICBC's earnings announcement which will quell fears of declining profitability in Chinese lenders amid aggressive credit tightening.
ICBC (601398.SS), which made the forecast on Thursday based on Chinese accounting standards, has been expanding aggressively into intermediary services to broaden its revenue beyond plain-vanilla interest on loans.
*A syndicated loan deal crafted in support of Guangdong property tycoon Yeung Kwok-keung's takeover of Shaw Brothers 0080.HK will be signed in one or two days, the Hong Kong Economic Journal said citing sources.
*Chinese property firm, Agile Property (3383.HK), will join forces with investment institution Morgan Stanley to develop a large holiday resort project in China's southern province of Hainan with a total investment of 20 billion yuan, or $2.92 billion, Agile said in a statement. [ID:nHKG347816]
The joint venture company, Crown Golden Investment Ltd, will be 70 percent owned by Agile and 30 percent by Morgan Stanley, with capital of 5.3 million yuan, Agile said late on Thursday. ---------------------MARKET SNAPSHOT@23:51GMT ------------------
INSTRUMENT LAST PCT CHG NET CHG S&P 500 .SPX 1,262.90 0.11% 1.380 USD/JPY JPY= 106.72 -0.05% -0.050 10-YR US TSY YLD US10YT=RR 3.991 -- 0.000 SPOT GOLD XAU= $930.05 -0.30% -2.800 US CRUDE CLc1 $145.33 0.03% 0.040 DOW JONES .DJI 11288.54 0.65% 73.03 ASIA ADRS .BKAS 145.47 0.57% 0.82 --------------------------------------------------------------- > US STOCKS-Energy shares, tame jobs data lift Dow [.N] > Oil hits record over $145, up 50 percent this year [O/R] > FOREX-Dollar gains broadly after job data, ECB remarks [USD/] > TREASURIES-Short maturity debt gains on weak jobs [US/] > Gold ends lower as dollar rise prompts selling [GOL/] > SE Asian Stocks-Indonesia leads losses as coal firms drop [.SO]
(Reporting by Parvathy Ullatil; Editing by Keiron Henderson)
