HK main index pulls back after reaching 30,000

HONG KONG—Boosted by hopes that price difference between Hong Kong traded H-shares and mainland-listed A- shares will narrow, share prices of Hong Kong closed higher on Thursday, with the main index briefly crossing the 30,000 points level in early trade.
But the market pulled back substantially from early highs as fears grew that a correction is due as many stocks are at overbought levels. The Hang Seng index closed up 166.34 points or 0.57 percent at 29,465.05, off a low of 29,265.47 and a new all-time-high of 30, 025.07. The index’s previous all-time high was 29,920.25, reached October 16. Turnover was at 168.52 billion HK dollars.
Chalco was up 0.7 Hong Kong dollars or 2.9 percent at 24.8, Jiangxi Copper rose 1.2 Hong Kong dollars or 4.06 percent to 30.75and China Oilfield Services surged 1.81 Hong Kong dollars or 9.46 percent to 20.95.
China Eastern Airlines was up 0.16 Hong Kong dollars or 2.04 percent at 8.01 and China Southern Airlines added 0.66 Hong Kong dollars or 5.91 percent at 11.82. China Life was up 0.45 Hong Kong dollars or 0.88 percent at 51.3, off a new all-time-high of 53.8, while Bank of China was up 0. 07 Hong Kong dollars or 1.5 percent at 4.74.
China CITIC Bank was up 0.35 Hong Kong dollars or 5.7 percent at 6.49 after it said it is not currently seeking a stake in Bear Stearns. Other China banks were mixed, with China Construction Bank flat at 7.3 Hong Kong dollars, ICBC up 0.06 Hong Kong dollars or 0.89 percent at 6.8 and China Merchants Bank up 0.1 Hong Kong dollars or 0.26 percent at 39.3.
Oil counters closed mixed, with PetroChina up 0.22 Hong Kong dollars or 1.18 percent at 18. 92, off an all-time-high of 20.0 and CNOOC was up 0.1 Hong Kong dollars or 0.7 percent at 14.38 while Sinopec was down 0.06 Hong Kong dollars or 0.49 percent at 12.26. China Mobile closed flat at 147.9 Hong Kong dollars after hitting an all-time-high of 152.2 in early trade on strong gains in its ADR prices and hopes that the company will get listed on the mainland soon.
Analysts also expect the company to report strong third quarter earnings on Monday. Among other large-caps, HSBC was up 0.4 Hong Kong dollars or 0.27 percent at 150.6, HKEx surged 2.2 Hong Kong dollars or 0.88 percent to 252.6 and Hutchison Whampoa was up 1.1 Hong Kong dollars or 1. 31 percent at 85.35.
Local property developers were mostly lower, with the sectoral sub-index losing 18.94 points or 0.06 percent at 32,992.35, reversing early gains.—Xinhua