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Joseph Lo

Mainland oil companies secure gains on worries that global crude prices will remain at record levels

Hong Kong stocks traded within a tight range yesterday, as brokers said punters  in the region would stay on the sidelines until the outcome of the United States Federal Reserve meeting this week and ahead of the long Easter  weekend.

The Hang Seng Index  fell almost 48 points in the first  30 minutes of trading. It spent the rest of the day trading sideways, before closing up 5.98 points at 13,834.35.

Turnover amounted to just $11.5 billion,  down from the  $15 billion to $20 billion daily  volumes that the market had seen recently, brokers said.

One broker called yesterday 'one of my most boring days in recent memory' and a 'likely effect of hangovers from the weekend's World Cup Sevens rugby tournament'.

Phillip Securities head of research Louis Wong Wai-kit said: 'Easter is looming, so investors will stay sidelined.    They will be keen to wait for interest-rate guidance from the Fed meeting on Tuesday.'

Rexcapital Asset Management research manager Alex Wong said the low turnover on the market 'was not a local phenomenon, it is a global one'.

'Other global markets were also quite quiet.  Japan was closed because of a public holiday,' Mr Wong said. 'Ahead of the Fed meeting and Easter, people will not be keen to position themselves.'

Brokers said most investors expected to see another rise of 25 basis points in the  US federal funds rate, bringing it to 2.75 per cent. This  would be the seventh quarter-point tightening by the Fed since June.

Despite the focus on the Fed meeting,  Mr Wong said investors were already starting to look ahead  to an expected rise in  local lending rates.

'We're expecting another rise by local banks later this year and I think investors have discounted that from the share prices of local developers and banks,' he said.

'The response of interest rate-sensitive stocks was pretty muted.  Property stocks in particular were quite muted.'

The properties sub-index rose 37.98 points to 16,864.84,  while the finance sub-index fell 68.27 points to 26,820.15, as HSBC, the largest constituent stock of the Hang Seng Index, dropped 0.39 per cent  to $125.50.

Property developers were mixed. Cheung Kong  was steady at $71.50 a share while Henderson Land rose  0.86 per cent to $35.10. Sun Hung Kai Properties was unchanged at $73.

Mainland oil stocks added some excitement to an otherwise dull day on continued fears that  crude  would remain at record levels.

PetroChina, the nation's  No1 oil producer and refiner, rose 2 per cent to $5.10, a record high since its listing in  the middle of 2000.

The H-share index rose  36.26 points, or 0.07 per cent, to 4,959.81, due largely to the performance of PetroChina and CNOOC, the mainland's largest offshore oil producer.

Other oil counters were mixed. Sinopec fell  1.47 per cent to $3.35 but CNOOC rose 1.11 per cent   to $4.55.

PetroChina has had a strong run so far this year, up almost 20 per cent, and brokers said its run was likely to continue as long as oil prices remained high.

'PetroChina keeps on hitting new highs because investors are still bullish about oil prices,' Rexcapital's Mr Wong said. 'There's still some upside potential in some of these oil companies.'

Brilliance China Automotive  traded down to a two-month low after a profit warning from the firm that said  last year's earnings would be adversely affected by losses related in its Zhonghua model range. Its stock, which has dropped 13 per cent this year, closed 8.33 per cent lower at $1.32.

But Mr Wong said the warning 'comes as no surprise, given the [car] price war in the mainland and the company's struggles'.

'The sector  has really lagged the rest of the market this year. Other carmakers were quite resilient, indicating that investors may be thinking that Brilliance has its own additional problems,' he said.

Denway was steady at $2.775.

Macau-concept stocks also staged a small return to the limelight, after the Macau government and Las Vegas hoteliers unveiled plans on Friday to develop as many as 60,000 new hotel rooms in the former Portuguese enclave.

Guoco rose 3.94 per cent to $79, after reports said the company was on the verge of a major investment in K Wah Construction, the listed arm of the K Wah Group which owns the Galaxy Casino in Macau.

Regal Hotels  rose 4.35 per cent to 72 cents, after the group said it would develop new hotels  in Macau with a total of 6,000 rooms.

'The rally in Macau shares will be short-lived though, since there was no clear leadership from the major Macau counters. Shun Tak was down and Melco is still suspended,' Mr Wong said.

Shun Tak dropped 1.25 per cent to $7.90.



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