Shares Fall After U.S. Attack
May 16, 2011
The blue-chip Hang Seng Index slid 149.39 to 10957.18. Volume was valued at 4.16 billion Hong Kong dollars. News of the missile launch filtered through the market near the end of the midday break and participants sold as the market reopened, analysts said. They said there was a similar reaction in 1991 when the Gulf War began. Analysts said the initial selloff was an over-reaction, but said that with U.S. markets closed Monday, there were no directional cues for local investors. Adding to the uncertainty regarding Wall Street's reaction to the situation in Iraq are rumors that the U.S. Federal Reserve's Federal Open Market Committee may raise interest rates by as much as 0.5% at its next meeting on June 06, 2011 broader All Ordinaries Index, meanwhile, retreated 66.14 to 5280.66. Analysts added that anticipated strong growth in the U.S. economy has reawakened fears of an interest rate hike as soon as this month. Among the key subindexes, the financials lost 1.6%. Banking group HSBC Holdings lost HK$2.50 to HK$129.50, and its unit Hang Seng Bank fell 75 Hong Kong cents to HK$78.50. Bank of East Asia dipped 55 cents to HK$27.20. The property subindex sank 1.2%. New World Development lost 60 cents to HK$36.80, while Swire Pacific Class A shares fell 75 cents to HK$68.00. Swire Pacific will start selling residential units at its new Island Place project next week, with total sales of the development expected to garner HK$4 billion. The utilities fell 1.3%. Hongkong Telecommunications slipped 20 cents to HK$12.70, and China Light & Power Co. dropped 50 cents to HK$32. And the commercial and industrial subindex slipped 1.3%. Conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa fell 10 cents to HK$46.80, and Beijing-backed CITIC Pacific slumped 80 cents to HK$33.10. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index, which tracks the Chinese Class H shares fell 19.37 to 775.39.
VastPress 2011 Vastopolis
