By Jonathan Burgos
March 30 (Bloomberg) -- Hong Kong stocks declined, snapping a two-day advance, on concern banks’ earnings will decline and after commodity prices tumbled.
China Construction Bank Corp., the world’s second-largest lender by market value, fell 6.6 percent after reporting a slump in fourth-quarter profit. Aluminum Corp. of China Ltd., the nation’s biggest producer of the metal and also known as Chalco, dropped 11 percent after saying it would be unprofitable in the first quarter. Cnooc Ltd., China’s biggest offshore oil explorer, slid 4.7 percent after crude oil futures dropped.
“I don’t think we’ve seen the beginning of a bull run in the past week,” Pauline Dan, chief investment officer at Samsung Investment Trust Management in Hong Kong, which oversees $61 billion in assets. “The external environment is still very fluid. There are issues in the banking sector that still need to be resolved.”
The Hang Seng Index slipped 3 percent to 13,691.99 at the 12:30 p.m. break in Hong Kong, snapping a two-day, 3.7 percent advance. The gauge has fallen 4.8 percent this year, extending last year’s 48 percent slump amid a global recession. Shares on the measure trade at 12 times estimated profit, down from 18.6 times at the beginning of 2008.
The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index, which tracks the so- called H shares of Chinese companies, fell 4.9 percent to 8,064.48.
Missed Estimates
China Construction dropped 6.6 percent to HK$4.39. The bank posted a 30 percent drop in fourth-quarter profit, missing analysts’ estimates, after increasing provisions to cover delinquent loans. Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd., the world’s most profitable bank, fell 4.8 percent to HK$3.99.
JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon said in an interview with CNBC that March was a “little tougher” than January and February for the bank. Kenneth Lewis, Bank of America Corp.’s CEO, said the lender’s trading book wasn’t as good as in the first two months.
Chalco slumped 11 percent to HK$4.62. The company said it would be unprofitable in the first quarter, extending losses because of lower metal prices and output cuts. Cnooc fell 4.7 percent to HK$7.94. Crude oil for May delivery lost 3.6 percent to $52.38 a barrel in New York on March 27, and slid as much as 2.4 percent today.
China Coal Energy Co., the nation’s second-biggest producer of the fuel, retreated 6.6 percent to HK$5.83 after missing analysts’ earnings expectations. Last year’s net income rose 19 percent to 7.14 billion yuan ($1 billion), below the 8.56 billion yuan median estimate of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.
Esprit Slumps
Jiangxi Copper Co., China’s biggest producer of the metal, slipped 9.4 percent to HK$8.22. A measure of six metals traded on the London Metal Exchange, including aluminum, copper and zinc, lost 1 percent on Nov. 27.
Esprit Holdings Ltd. dropped 10 percent to HK$38.05. The company’s Chief Executive Officer Heinz Krogner plans to step down, Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung reported on March 28, without saying where it got the information or giving a reason for the resignation. Shares of Hong Kong’s biggest clothier slumped 9.9 percent to HK$43.10 months on March 27 after rival Hennes & Mauritz AB’s profit fell and Thomas Grote, president of its flagship brand, resigned his post as director.
China Cosco Holdings Co., the world’s largest operator of dry-bulk ships, lost 9.3 percent to HK$5.16. The Baltic Dry Index slipped 2.1 percent on March 27, the 13th straight decline for the benchmark measure of shipping costs for commodities.
China Resources Land Ltd., a property developer, rose 9.1 percent to HK$12 after saying profit surged 42 percent last year. Morgan Stanley raised its rating for the stock to “overweight.”
Citic Pacific Ltd., an investment company controlled by China’s government after a bailout, gained 2.6 percent to HK$9.38 after JPMorgan raised its share-price estimate to HK$8.3 from HK$6.
To contact the reporter on this story: Jonathan Burgos in Singapore at jburgos4@bloomberg.net.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment