Hong Kong shares follow Asian markets higher on U.S. tax reform optimism
19/12/2017 08:09
Dec 19 (Reuters) - Hong Kong stocks followed Asian markets
higher after a record-beating run on Wall Street amid optimism
over the likely passage of U.S. tax reforms.
** At close of trade, the Hang Seng index .HSI was up 203.25
points or 0.7 percent at 29,253.66. The Hang Seng China
Enterprises index .HSCE rose 1.11 percent to 11,541.88.
**The sub-index of the Hang Seng tracking energy shares .HSCIE
rose 0.7 percent while the IT sector .HSCIIT rose 1.85
percent, the financial sector .HSNF was 0.83 percent higher
and property sector rose 0.03 percent.
** The top gainer on Hang Seng was Ping An Insurance Group Co of
China Ltd 2318.HK up 3.82 percent, while the biggest loser was
Wharf Holdings Ltd 0004.HK which was down 1.87 percent.
** China's main Shanghai Composite index .SSEC closed up 0.88
percent at 3,296.6811 points while its blue-chip CSI300 index
.CSI300 ended up 1.26 percent.
** Around the region, MSCI's Asia ex-Japan stock index
.MIAPJ0000PUS was firmer by 0.44 percent while Japan's Nikkei
index .N225 closed down 0.15 percent .
** The yuan CNY=CFXS was quoted at 6.6114 per U.S. dollar at
08:11 GMT, 0.08 percent firmer than the previous close of 6.617.
** So far this year, the Hang Seng index is up 32.04 percent,
while China's H-share index is up 21.5 percent. As of the
previous close, the Hang Seng has declined 0.44 percent this
month.
** The top gainers among H-shares were Air China Ltd 0753.HK
up 4.92 percent, followed by Ping An Insurance Group Co of China
Ltd 2318.HK gaining 3.82 percent and New China Life Insurance
Co Ltd 1336.HK up by 3.49 percent.
** The three biggest H-shares percentage decliners were China
Telecom Corp Ltd 0728.HK which was down 0.80 percent,
Guangzhou Automobile Group Co Ltd 2238.HK which fell 0.8
percent and China Railway Construction Corp Ltd 1186.HK down
by 0.4 percent.
** About 1.68 billion Hang Seng index shares were traded,
roughly 85 percent of the market's 30-day moving average of 1.98
billion shares a day. The volume traded in the previous trading
session was 1.69 billion.
** At close, China's A-shares were trading at a
premium of 30.22 percent over the Hong Kong-listed H-shares.
** The price-to-earnings ratio of the Hang Seng index was 13.25
as of the last full trading day while the dividend yield was 3
percent.
** So far this week, the market capitalisation of the Hang Seng
index has risen by 0.64 percent to HK$19.02 trillion.
** The short and one-factor leveraged Hang Seng index .HSISI ,
which is designed to replicate the payoff of a short or
leveraged portfolio and is linked to the movements of the Hang
Seng Index, was lower by 0.7 percent on the day at 5,046.29
points.
(Reporting by the Shanghai Newsroom; Editing by Jacqueline
Wong)
((samuel.shen@tr.com))
Keywords: CHINA STOCKS/HONGKONG CLOSE