Hong Kong and China Gas hits near 1-1/2-yr high on strong results

Hong Kong and China Gas

23/08/2021 05:38

** Shares of Hong Kong and China Gas Co Ltd  0003.HK  rise
3.9% to HK$13.40, the highest since March 2020
    ** Stock set for the biggest daily percentage gain since
April 2020 and Monday's biggest percentage gainer on the Hang
Seng Utilities Index  .HSNU 
    ** Gas producer and distributor says its H1 net profit
jumped 57.5% year-on-year to HK$4.2 bln ($539.2 mln) with
turnover surging 35.6% to HK$24.7 bln  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nFWN2PR042
    ** Brokerage Daiwa upgrades the stock to "buy" rating from
"outperform" and lifts TP to HK$15.5 from HK$14.7 saying the
company's net profit is a strong beat 
    ** We are more bullish on both volume growth and
profitability of Mainland utilities and New Energy segments -
Daiwa 
    ** The Hang Seng Utilities Index  .HSNU  and the Hang Seng
Composite Index tracking energy stocks  .HSCIE  both rise 1.4%
    ** The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index  .HSCE  climbs 1.7%
and the benchmark index  .HSI  increases 1.8%
    ** As of last close, the stock had added 17% this year

($1 = 7.7892 Hong Kong dollars)

 (Reporting by Donny Kwok)
 ((donny.kwok@thomsonreuters.com))