Hong Kong stocks jumped 502.95 points, or 1.85 percent, to close at 27,615.85 on Wednesday led by blue chips across the board.

 

The benchmark Hang Seng opened 265 points lower on another sell-off in the Wall Street, but market confidence regained soon following the rise in the mainland stock markets and on news of a possible tax rebate by the U.S. government to boost the economy.

Property counters took the lead to rebound on growing hopes for further cuts in U.S. interest rates following recent economic data, while gold stocks surged after the price of the precious metal hit a fresh record.

 

Turnover increased to 120 billion HK dollars (15.4 billion U.S. dollars) from Tuesday's 115 billion HK dollars.

 

In the property counter, Cheung Kong and SHKP gained 2.4 percent to respective 146 HK dollars and 172.8 HK dollars. Henderson Land put on one percent to 78.4 HK dollars while Hang Lung was up by 2 percent to 33.9 HK dollars.

 

On the gold side, Lingbao Gold, Zijin Mining, Zhaojin Gold Mining, Jiangxi Copper and Sino Gold advanced comprehensively, up 4.96 percent to 9.6 percent.

 

The six mainland banks continued their rebound. CM Bank that issued a profit estimate was up 2.9 percent, CCB up 6.12 percent, ICBC up 3.21 percent, Bank of China up 1.64 percent, Bankcomm up 2.75 percent, and CITIC Bank up 2.7 percent.

 

But local banks closed mixed. HSBC was down 0.31 percent, Hang Seng Bank up 2.52 percent, Bank of East Asia down 0.2 percent, BOC HK up 3.21 percent, and StanChart up 1.65 percent. The three mainland insurers also performed well. China Life was up 3.27 percent, Ping An up 1.98 percent, and PICC P&C up 4.52 percent.

 

On the telecom front, China Mobile was up 1.94 percent, China Unicom up 2.125 percent, Netcom up 1.89 percent, and China Telecom up 6.11 percent.

 

On the energy side, PetroChina was up 2.74 percent, Sinopec Corp up 2.5 per cent, and CNOOC up 4.67 percent, while China Coal lifted 2.17 percent, China Shenhua was up 2.07 percent and Yanzhou Coal up 1.73 percent.

 

Aviation stock China East Air eased 0.15 percent following trading resumption after the deal of introducing Singapore Airlines was rejected by its shareholders. Air China was down 0.98 percent, Cathay Pacific down 0.74 percent, but China South Air up 0.325 percent.

 

(Xinhua News Agency January 10, 2008)