Hong Kong shares end lower for profit-taking

HONG KONG—Profit-taking in Hong Kong property firms and lingering concerns over possible stagflation in the U.S. sent the Hang Seng Index lower Friday.
The Hang Seng Index fell 260.02 points, or 1.1 percent, to 24, 331.67 after trading between 24,010.48 and 24,370.69 during the session. Turnover reached 80.15 billion HK dollars (10.31 billion U.S. dollars), down from 82.39 billion HK dollars (10.60 billion U.S. dollars) Thursday. Traders said the market will likely be cautious Monday ahead of HSBC’s results, which are scheduled to be disclosed after the market closes.
The Hang Seng Property Sub-index fell 1.9 percent to 31,692.17 after rising 7.4 percent over the last four sessions on expectations of further interest rate cuts in the U.S. and eventually Hong Kong. Sino Land slid 4.6 percent to 19.98 HK dollars, Henderson Land fell 3 percent to 61.90 HK dollars, and Sun Hung Kai Properties was 2.1 percent lower at 139.00 HK dollars.
HSBC fell 1.9 percent to 120.70 HK dollars. Based on data from Thomson One Analytics, the average forecast for its 2007 net profit from 17 analysts is 141.19 billion HK dollars (18.14 billion U.S. dollars), or 15 percent higher than 15.79 billion HK dollars (2.03 billion U.S. dollars) in 2006. The finance sub-index dropped 290.08 points, or 0.84 percent, to 34,344.38. The commerce and industry sub-index went down 158.50 points or 1.08 percent to 14,521.89.
The utilities sub-index dropped 313.65 points or 0.73 percent at 42,907.41. Hong Kong’s total goods exports values rose 15.8 percent in the past year to 240.1 billion HK dollars (30.8 billion U.S. dollars) in January, while goods imports values climbed 16.9 percent to 247.6 billion HK dollars, the Census and Statistics Department of Hong Kong said Thursday. This resulted in a visible trade deficit of 7.5 billion HK dollars, equivalent to 3 percent of the goods import value.
Merchandise exports grew strongly in January mainly due to the robust performance of the Chinese mainland market and other emerging economies. The global trading environment remains rather uncertain, as the U.S. economy continues to weaken and the financial market turmoil has yet to settle. Nevertheless, the strong growth momentum in many emerging economies, particularly the Chinese mainland, should continue to support Hong Kong’s trade performance.—Xinhua