HONG KONG, May 21 (Reuters) - Hong Kong stocks are expected
to fall on Wednesday, tracking losses in global markets, as
record high oil prics intensify concerns over inflation and
corporate earnings.
"Stock markets around the world are weak and Hong Kong could
fall 500 points today," said Francis Lun, general manager at
Fulbright Securities.
"There are renewed worries over high inflation and a possible
recession in the United States after oil prices hit a new high
overnight."
Crude oil prices rose to a new peak near $130 a barrel late
on Tuesday on fears of tight supply.
The spiralling cost of oil is expected to weigh further on
Hong Kong stocks, which fell about 570 points on Tuesday on
concerns about the impact of China's devastating earthquake.
"Economists and companies said the earthquake's economic
impact would be limited but I bet it will cost a huge amount of
money for reconstruction," Lun said.
Power companies may continue to see selling pressure as hopes
of them passing on high coal costs via tariff hikes seemed to
have faded amid high inflation worries, he added.
The benchmark Hang Seng index <.HSI> fell 2.23 percent to
25,169.46 on Tuesday. The China Enterprises Index of Hong
Kong-listed mainland companies <.HSCE>, or H shares, lost 2.74
percent to 13,973.60.
----------------------MARKET SNAPSHOT @ 0000 GMT ------------
INSTRUMENT LAST PCT CHG NET CHG
S&P 500 <.SPX> 1413.4 -0.93% -13.230
USD/JPY <JPY=> 103.64 0.02% 0.020
10-YR US TSY YLD <US10YT=RR> 3.7746 -- -0.006
SPOT GOLD <XAU=> 918.25 -0.01% -0.100
US CRUDE <CLc1> 128.94 -0.03% -0.040
DOW JONES <.DJI> 12828.68 -1.53% -199.48
ASIA ADRS <.BKAS> 164.82 -2.57% -4.35
-------------------------------------------------------------
FACTORS TO WATCH:
* Nikkei average slides 1.1 pct, exporters sold [.T]
* Inflation worries spur sell-off on Wall Street [.N]
* Asian shares seen down on inflation worries [STXNEWS/AS]
* Oil hits record near $130 as supply fears grow [O/R]
* Dollar slides as interest rate outlook lifts euro [USD/]
* For upcoming Hong Kong events, click on [HK/DIARY]
* For Hong Kong press digest, click on [PRESS/HK]
STOCKS TO WATCH:
* Dongfang Electric Corp <1072.HK> said 97 staff in Dongfang
Steam Turbine Co Ltd were killed in the earthquake. Production
and operations of the unit had been fully resumed on May 19 and
it had entered into a 1.24 billion yuan contract, the first
contract since the quake. For details please see
http://www.hkexnews.hk/listedco/listconews/sehk/20080521/LTN20080521007.pdf
* Wing On Travel (Holdings) <1189.HK> plans to raise up to
HK$623 million through the issue of 10.39 billion rights shares
to fund expansion in its travel business in the mainland, invest
in hotels and repay debt. For details please see
http://www.hkexnews.hk/listedco/listconews/sehk/20080521/LTN20080521002.pdf
* Anhui Conch Cement <0914.HK> said its offer for the sale of
up to 11.48 billion yuan worth of A shares had been closed, in
which 8.55 percent of the shares were allocated to public
investors. For details please see
http://www.hkexnews.hk/listedco/listconews/sehk/20080520/LTN20080520295.pdf
* PetroChina <0857.HK> said five employees had died, five
were missing and 74 were injured in the earthquake. It said the
quake should not have any material adverse effect on its
production and operations. For detail please see
http://www.hkexnews.hk/listedco/listconews/sehk/20080520/LTN20080520282.pdf
* China Resources Power Holdings <0836.HK> said it would buy
Jiangsu Investment for 2.51 billion yuan. Jiangsu Investment has
a total attributable operational capacity of 1,965 megawatt, with
840 megawatt of attributable capacity under construction. For
details please see
http://www.hkexnews.hk/listedco/listconews/sehk/20080520/LTN20080520271.pdf
* Sichuan Xinhua Winshare Chainstore Co <0811.HK>, which
operates 187 chainstores in the mainland, said 2 books and
audio-visual chainstores in Dujiangyan City and Beichuan County
collapsed in the earthquake, which has also affected its
textbooks and supplementary materials distribution business in
certain villages, towns and schools in nine counties or
county-level cities in Sichuan. For details please see
http://www.hkexnews.hk/listedco/listconews/sehk/20080520/LTN20080520266.PDF
* Country Garden Holdings Co <2007.HK> said it was not
involved in any talks in relation to the potential acquisition of
any interest in Television Broadcasts Ltd <0511.HK> or Shaw
Brothers (Hong Kong) Ltd <0080.HK>. The company said it had no
intention to deviate from its core business in real estate
development and was not in a position to verify or comment on
newspapers reports that its chairman, Yeung Kwok Keung, was in
talks to buy an indirect stake in TVB. For full statement please
see
http://www.hkexnews.hk/listedco/listconews/sehk/20080520/LTN20080520140.pdf
(Reporting by Alison Leung; editing by Anne Marie Roantree)
(([email protected]; +852 2843 1649; Reuters
Messaging: [email protected]))
KEY HK ADR MOVERS (by % change)
China Eastern <CEA.N><0670.HK> +0.36
Huaneng Power <HNP.N><0902.HK> -7.59
Semiconductor Mfng <SMI.N><0981.HK> -5.77
Sinopec <SNP.N><0386.HK> -5.50
China Mobile <CHL.N><0941.HK> -4.82
China Telecom <CHA.N><0728.HK> -4.13
ASIA-PACIFIC STOCK MARKETS:
Pan-Asia........[STXNEWS/AS] Japan.......[.T] S.Korea...[.KS]
S.E. Asia.......[.SO] Hong Kong...[.HK] Taiwan....[.TW]
Australia/NZ....[.AX] India.......[.BO] China.....[.SS]
OTHER MARKETS:
Wall Street ....[.N] Gold .......[GOL/] Currency..[FRX/]
Eurostocks......[.EU] Oil ........[O/R] JP bonds...[JP/]
ADR Report .....[ADR/] LME metals.[MET/L] US bonds.. [US/]
Stocks News US..[STXNEWS/US] Stocks News Europe [STXNEWS/EU]
DIARIES & DATA:
IPO diary & data <HK/IPOMENU> Asia earnings diary [ASIA/EQTY]
U.S. earnings diary [RESF/US] European diary [WEU/EQTY]
Hong Kong diary [HK/DIARY] Wall Street Week Ahead [.N/O]
Eurostocks Week Ahead [.EU/O]
TOP NEWS:
For top Asian company news, double click on: [nTOPEQA]
U.S. company news [TOP/EQU] European company news [TOP/EQE]
Forex news [TOP/FRX] Global Economy news [TOP/MACRO]
Tech/Telecoms/Media [TOP/TMT] Banking news [TOP/FIN]
Politics/General news [TOP/G] Asia Macro data <ASIATODAY>
A multimedia version of Reuters Top News is available at:
http://topnews.session.rservices.com
LIVE PRICES & DATA:
World Stocks <0#.INDEX> Currency rates <EFX=> <NFX=>
Dow Jones/NASDAQ <.DJI> <.IXIC> Nikkei <.N225>
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Hong Kong currency <HKD=> LME price overview <RING=>
Keywords: MARKETS HONGKONG STOCKS PREOPEN