HONG KONG (XFN-ASIA) - Share prices finished the morning weaker as China telecom firms saw further profit-taking as Beijing prepared to issue 3G licenses, and mainland banks were sold off after news that Bank of America cut its stake in China Construction Bank (CCB).
Local property firms helped limit the market's losses as the sector gained on hopes for a pick-up in home sales on the back of lower mortgage interest rates.
Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing (HKEx) also helped, as the stock market operator surged over 3 pct due to increased trading activity on the local bourse in recent sessions.
CCB fell nearly 6 pct after news that Bank of America is selling 5.62 bln shares of the mainland lender at 12 pct discount to the stock's last closing price.
Semiconductor Manufacturing International Copr (SMIC) surged over 7 pct after a report that China's top contract chip maker plans to sell a strategic stake to Intel Corp.
The Hang Seng index closed the morning down 82.2 points or 0.53 pct at 15,427.31, off a low of 15,416.59 and high of 15,763.55.
Turnover was 43.2 bln hkd.
The property sector index was up 244.42 points or 1.28 pct at 19,316.20, while the financial sector index was down 376.24 points or 1.6 pct at 22,770.27.
Among local property firms, Sun Hung Kai Properties gained 1.8 hkd or 2.5 pct to 75.05, Henderson Land surged 1.5 hkd or 4.7 pct to 33.7 and Sino Land was up 0.08 hkd or 0.9 pct at 9.3.
In the mainland banking sector, China Construction Bank slumped 0.26 hkd or 6.8 pct to 4.19, ICBC dropped 0.24 hkd or 5.6 pct to 4.03 and Bank of China lost 0.05 hkd or 2.3 pct at 2.16.
Among China telecom firms, China Mobile lost 1.25 hkd or 1.5 pct at 81.75, China Unicom slumped 0.54 hkd or 5.3 pct to 9.74 and China Telecom was down 0.05 hkd or 1.6 pct at 3.14.
SMIC jumped 0.025 hkd or 7.3 pct to 0.37.
(1 usd = 7.8 hkd)
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